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For years, the small South American country of Suriname, a former Dutch colony, has been instrumental in producing some of the Netherlands’ best footballers, from Frank Rijkaard and Ruud Gullit to Clarence Seedorf.

Now, nearly 40 years after Gullit inspired the Dutch to victory in the 1988 European Championships, their only major trophy, the boot is on the other foot.

Suriname is banking on Dutch players of Surinamese origin to help it achieve its wildest dream: booking a spot in the FIFA World Cup finals for the first time when it comes to North America in June next year.

“It’s a dream of the nation and we hope that we can fulfil that dream,” the president of the Suriname football federation Soerin Mathoera, told AFP in a recent interview in the Surinamese capital Paramaribo.

The tropical country of 600,000 people situated on the northeast coast of South America, ranked 137th in the world by FIFA, looked on with pride as its children’s children helped revive the fortunes of the struggling “Oranje” in the late 1980s.

After failing to qualify for the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, a fabled trio of Surinamese-origin  — Rijkaard, Gullit and Aron Winter — formed the nucleus of a new Dutch dream team.

It was not all plain sailing for players of color in the overwhelmingly white Dutch teams of the day.

Gullit complained of receiving racial abuse.

But the Surinamese influence endured.

In the 1990s, the likes of Edgar Davids helped the Netherlands reach the semi-final of the 1998 World Cup.

Current Dutch captain Virgil van Dijk, who has been a standout centre-back for English champions Liverpool, was born in the Dutch city of Breda to a Dutch father and Surinamese mother.

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‘Much easier’ path to qualifiers 

Now the time has come for Suriname football to have its own moment in the sun.

In pursuit of its World Cup dream authorities in the Caribbean nation six years ago broke with a longtime taboo by allowing players from the Surinamese diaspora join the national team.

The floodgates opened.

Six years on, only three of the 26 players in the Surinamese squad were born in the country.

The rest moved from Europe or Asia to play for their ancestral homeland, seen as having its best chance yet of reaching the World Cup at next year’s expanded tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico of 48 teams (up from 32 previously).

Despite being in South America, Suriname is part of the Concacaf (North, Central America and the Caribbean associations) federation.

Being in the same group as the hosts, who automatically qualify for the tournament, is a shot in the arm for Suriname.

With no competition from the co-hosts for the five remaining Concacaf spots, its chances of making it through have grown exponentially.

The team has gone into the qualifiers with a pep in their step, helped by a new crop of players with experience from Europe’s premier leagues.

And it shows.

A goal from Dutch-born Jaden Montnor gave Suriname a 1-0 victory over Puerto Rico on June 6, taking it to the third round of the qualifiers in September.

“We have made a lot of progress,” said Mathoera.

“We are among the best 14 countries within (41-federation) Concacaf,” he claimed.

The team’s assistant coach, Roberto Godeken, who also manages SV Robinhood, the country’s top club, agreed the path to the World Cup was “much easier” than in the past.

“We definitely have a much better chance of qualifying,” he said, crediting “the arrival of the diaspora” with taking Suriname football “to a higher level.”

 Suriname’s Kante 

Renske Adipi “Kante”, 25, a midfielder for Robinhood and the national team, hopes to write his name in the sporting annals like his idol French midfielder N’Golo Kante.

Robinhood’s only fully professional player, who is in talks with foreign clubs about a transfer, said he was “learning a lot” from foreign-born players.

Diederik Samwel, the author of a book entitled “Suriname en route to the World Cup,” said it was only a matter of time before the technical prowess of local players, blended with the Europeans’ tactical skills, produced a breakthrough.

For Godeken, it would be a “historic” feat if Suriname made it through.

“It would put Suriname on the map,” he said.

Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada is sticking to his ambitious target of winning the Premier League in 2028 to mark the club’s 150th anniversary despite a historically bad season for Ruben Amorim’s team.

The 20-time English champions endured their worst top-flight campaign since they were relegated in 1973/74, finishing 15th, 42 points behind champions Liverpool.

They also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham, meaning they will have no European football next season.

Berrada told staff of his “Project 150” vision in September last year, setting out his aim to win the Premier League and the Women’s Super League (WSL) titles in 2028.

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While United’s men’s team have a mountain to climb, the women’s side, who have never won the WSL, will have to dislodge Chelsea, who have won the past six titles.

United finished third in the WSL, 16 points behind champions Chelsea, who also beat them in the FA Cup final.

But Berrada, formerly chief football operations officer at Manchester City, believes a double title success within three years is possible, despite the huge challenges.

“It’s establishing a series of targets within a timeframe so we can focus our efforts and energy on that goal,” he said in an interview with the United We Stand fanzine, to be published on Wednesday.

“Can the team win the Premier League title by 2028? Of course.

“We’ve just finished 15th and it seems an impossible task. But why not aim for it? Why not do everything in our power?”

United, in three years’ time, will mark 150 years since the club were founded as Newton Heath in 1878.

They have not been crowned English champions since Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2012/13 but Berrada remains confident.

“I firmly believe we can do it,” he said. “We have two or three summer windows to build a team to start competing to win the Premier League.”

Chelsea kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a solid 2-0 victory over Los Angeles FC on Monday in Group D, although there were nearly 50,000 empty seats in the stadium in Atlanta.

Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez’s goals got the Blues off to a good start in a competitive clash against one of the three qualified MLS teams.

New signing, Liam Delap, made his debut as a substitute and helped set up Fernandez’s strike, with Chelsea hoping to go far after their UEFA Conference League triumph and Champions League qualification, looking to re-establish themselves among the elite.

After a solid start to the tournament regarding attendance numbers over the opening weekend, a sparse crowd of just over 22,000 settled in at the stylish 71,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Behind former Tottenham Hotspur stopper, Hugo Lloris’ goal in the first half, a couple of hundred LAFC ‘ultras’ helped provide an atmosphere with a drum beat and constant song.

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Although the closed stadium roof offered refuge from the Georgia humidity and mid-afternoon summer sun which Paris Saint-Germain and Atletico Madrid stars roasted under on Sunday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the attendance suffered badly because of the 3:00 pm local time kick-off.

Despite regular strong crowds for MLS side Atlanta United, the best supported US team, few locals decided to take a Monday off work for the tournament’s first weekday afternoon game, seemingly chosen to suit a British television audience.

After beating Club America in a play-off to qualify for the competition as late as May, LAFC took the place of the banned Mexican side Club Leon, and played none of their three group games in California.

The top ring of the stadium was entirely shut and other levels were only partly filled, despite ticket prices dropping in the days ahead of the game.

Lloris rated his team’s chances against Chelsea as “really thin” on the eve of the game and was called into action several times as the Blues took control from the start.

The French stopper saved from Nicolas Jackson and then Noni Madueke after the Senegalese forward set him up, while Cole Palmer whistled a strike narrowly over.

With new signing Delap looking on from the bench, Jackson played like a man determined to keep his starting spot.

The striker was instrumental in Neto’s opener, releasing the Portuguese winger with an excellent through ball.

Neto chopped in the box to leave LA defender Ryan Hollingshead stumbling helplessly out of sight and then buried a powerful strike past Lloris low at the near post.

Delap Debut

Former Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud came on at half-time for the Americans, hoping to threaten Robert Sanchez’s goal more than Steve Cherundolo’s team managed in the first half.

Jackson came close with a header and LA almost levelled but Sanchez made a fine save with his outstretched leg to thwart 2023 MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga after he shook off Neto.

Maresca brought on 22-year-old striker Delap for his Chelsea debut after the hour mark, having begun the game with all of the club’s new faces on the bench.

The forward drove into space and tried to tee up Fernandez with a promising first move in a Chelsea shirt since his arrival from relegated Ipswich Town.

Chelsea star Palmer, who had shown occasional flashes of brilliance, hammered over.

LA threatened increasingly, with Marc Cucurella blocking well from David Martinez, before Fernandez grabbed Chelsea’s second.

Running into the six-yard box the Argentine midfielder controlled Delap’s cross from the right and beat Lloris to put the game to bed.

Elsewhere in Group D Esperance Tunis face Brazil’s Flamengo later on Monday.

A former Super Eagles player, Sunday Oliseh, has expressed his disapproval of a foreigner taking over the reins of the senior Nigerian national team.

Oliseh spoke on Channels Sports on Sunday, where he insisted there were worthy home-based coaches capable of doing a better job.

”I am totally against having that role not being handed over to a Nigerian because we have qualified Nigerians who can do that job,” he said.

In January, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) appointed Eric Chelle, a French-born former Mali international, to succeed Augustine Eguavoen, who had been serving in an interim.

Since taking over, Chelle has overseen five games for the Super Eagles, winning three, drawing two, and recording 0 losses.

”When you are talking of a defensive midfield role, I was the one who brought in the young man Wilfred Ndidi. It was at the same time I brought in Alex Nwobi and Kelechi Iheanacho, and I gave them their first call-up because they had the quality to do it,” Oliseh said.

He also criticised the Nigerian team for having captains who had limited playing time in the squad.

”This I want to call an anomaly, and it started when we started having on the bench sitting captains. You can’t have that, you can’t have your captain sitting on the bench.’

”In other words, you are saying it is an assistant that is leading the team. Super Eagles’ role is the most important in Nigerian football,” he said

As to the importance of the defensive midfield role on the team, Oliseh said, ”Wilfred Ndidi has the quality to do it. But if you are going to play that role, you have to be disciplined; secondly, you have to have clear-cut instructions that are laid out.”

“That is why a tactician is very important.’