Latest news with #Groningen
CNA
10 hours ago
- General
- CNA
Netherlands 'obligated' to top World Cup qualifying group, says Koeman
The Netherlands are obligated to win their World Cup qualifying group, coach Ronald Koeman said on Tuesday as they began preparation for their opening Group G clash against Finland in Helsinki on Saturday. It will be their first match in their bid to qualify for next year's finals in North America, followed by a second fixture on Tuesday when they host Malta in Groningen. The Dutch belatedly kick off their qualifiers because they played in the Nations League quarter-finals in March where they drew twice with Spain before being eliminated on penalties. "Maybe it is easier to play football against Spain," Koeman told a press conference. "Because no one expects anything from us then. "Finland and Malta are different types of opponents. We will have more of the ball, and they try to stop us. "We are obligated to finish first in this group, but we do not underestimate anyone and we need to bring the energy that we have shown in our last few matches." The group also includes Lithuania and Poland, who top the standings after two wins in March. The winners qualify for the World Cup while the runners-up advances to a playoff competition. "We want to be good for all the matches and perform much more consistently," Koeman said. "We have shown that against one of the best countries in the world, which gives us confidence." One problem Koeman admitted, however, was the lack of a recognised centre forward. "We don't have top strikers now. I don't know what is coming through the ranks with the 15-16-year-olds, but it is clear that at the moment we do not have the classic striker of the past. Players like (Patrick) Kluivert, (Klaas-Jan) Huntelaar, and (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy. You don't see players like them around anymore." Koeman is not sure who would lead the line in the qualifiers over the next week. "It will probably be Memphis (Depay) or Wout (Weghorst) at the top of the attack," he said. "But (Cody) Gakpo and (Donyell) Malen are all possibilities in that position."
Reuters
10 hours ago
- General
- Reuters
Netherlands 'obligated' to top World Cup qualifying group, says Koeman
June 3 (Reuters) - The Netherlands are obligated to win their World Cup qualifying group, coach Ronald Koeman said on Tuesday as they began preparation for their opening Group G clash against Finland in Helsinki on Saturday. It will be their first match in their bid to qualify for next year's finals in North America, followed by a second fixture on Tuesday when they host Malta in Groningen. The Dutch belatedly kick off their qualifiers because they played in the Nations League quarter-finals in March where they drew twice with Spain before being eliminated on penalties. "Maybe it is easier to play football against Spain," Koeman told a press conference. "Because no one expects anything from us then. "Finland and Malta are different types of opponents. We will have more of the ball, and they try to stop us. "We are obligated to finish first in this group, but we do not underestimate anyone and we need to bring the energy that we have shown in our last few matches." The group also includes Lithuania and Poland, who top the standings after two wins in March. The winners qualify for the World Cup while the runners-up advances to a playoff competition. "We want to be good for all the matches and perform much more consistently," Koeman said. "We have shown that against one of the best countries in the world, which gives us confidence." One problem Koeman admitted, however, was the lack of a recognised centre forward. "We don't have top strikers now. I don't know what is coming through the ranks with the 15-16-year-olds, but it is clear that at the moment we do not have the classic striker of the past. Players like (Patrick) Kluivert, (Klaas-Jan) Huntelaar, and (Ruud) Van Nistelrooy. You don't see players like them around anymore." Koeman is not sure who would lead the line in the qualifiers over the next week. "It will probably be Memphis (Depay) or Wout (Weghorst) at the top of the attack," he said. "But (Cody) Gakpo and (Donyell) Malen are all possibilities in that position."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Night owls tend to have more health risks than early birds—including cognitive decline, new study finds
Night owls—people whose natural body clock, or chronotype, skews to late sleep and wake times—are already forced to wake up too early for office jobs and to deal with derision from early birds. And now comes a new affront: research concluding that they appear to decline faster, cognitively, than morning people. To look into this, dementia researcher Ana Wenzler at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands analyzed sleep-based questionnaires through a large national study, BIRD-NL Project. She was able to determine people's chronotypes and found that 52% were morning people, 44% intermediate, and only about 5% night owls—different from the general global population breakdown, where typically 30% are night owls, 40% early birds, and the rest in between. Next, Wenzler looked at the results of a cognitive function test over a 10-year period to see how the scores differed at the end of the decade. Her conclusion was that evening people saw faster cognitive decline. But every night owl may not have the same risk. 'We found that 25% of the effect was due to lower sleep quality and smoking,' Wenzler tells Fortune. 'So, having a healthy lifestyle could lower the negative effect of having a late chronotype a bit.' She says that, for this study, she only looked into the executive function of the brain, so more research is needed into how chronotype affects memory, language, and other cognitive aspects. But the increased risk here, interestingly, was found mostly in highly educated people. 'That probably has to do with their sleep rhythm,' Wenzler said in a news release. 'They are often people who have to go back to work early in the morning and are therefore more likely to sleep too short, giving their brains too little rest.' This tracks with a previous body of research showing that night owls, compared with early risers, face various health risks—a 30% higher risk of diabetes, nearly double the odds of depression and other psychological disorders, increased heart disease risk, and a 10% higher all-cause mortality risk. 'All of this evidence, to me at least, impresses the fact that when we do not sleep in harmony with our chronotype, the ensuing sleep disruption that unfolds has consequences,' Matt Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and founder and director of the Center for Human Sleep Science, previously told Fortune. He added, 'There is vast variability in chronotype, and it's important to sleep in harmony with yours.' (You can determine it with this free calculator.) But if work and other factors won't allow you to stay up till 2 a.m. and sleep in until 10 a.m., could you push yourself to become an early bird? 'Some studies showed that intensive intervention could help change your chronotype… but only by a few hours,' Wenzler says. 'But forcing yourself to get up early every day while you are an extreme evening person will not make you a morning person. In these cases, it might be best to adapt your life, as much as possible, to your chronotype.' Walker also noted that only slight shifts are really possible, and that the ongoing, disciplined interventions that are required to truly change chronotypes are 'just not tenable,' he said. 'Let night owls sleep as they were biologically designed. At least, that's how I feel on the basis of the science and medicine of the data.' So, is the cognitive health of night owls just simply doomed? 'If these individuals are doomed is hard to say, as we only had a follow-up of 10 years,' says Wenzler, explaining that the true long-term effects—particularly whether or not night owls are more likely to develop dementia—need further investigation. 'Faster cognitive decline in middle age does not necessarily mean a higher risk of dementia,' she said in the news release. 'With our research, we hope to find out more about this. This will ultimately help us to be able to give people informed advice on how to try to prevent dementia.' More on cognitive health: 5 ways to reduce your dementia risk as study estimates U.S. cases could double by 2060 A study on the Mediterranean diet offers the strongest proof yet that it's associated with healthy brain aging It's not just forgetfulness: 8 early warning signs of dementia This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Eredivisie End of Season Review: FC Groningen
Final Position: 13th Overview: FC Groningen returned to the Eredivisie and remained in the league with relative ease. At times, they even looked set to challenge for a play-off position before ultimately running out of gas in the latter part of the campaign. Dick Lukkien and co have something to build on for next season and with a few additions could be challenging for a top eight finish. They also managed to achieve their goals this season with a squad that boasts a number of young talents. Player of the season: Stije Resink Stije Resink is one of those young talents. The 21-year-old had a stellar season in the Eredivisie for the side, with six goals and two assists in 27 games following his summer move from Almere City. The midfielder was strong in breaking up the play in central areas, finishing the season with a 67% tackle success rate and winning 60% of his duels. In the air, Resink was also strong, winning 64% of his aerial battles. Groningen have him under contract until 2028 and for just €700k, he was certainly a bargain this season. Young Player of the Season: Luciano Valente Antother of the sides young talents was Luciano Valente. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder/winger scored twice and grabbed a club high eight assists this season. He followed up a strong showing in the second tier last year, where he ended with eigth goals and eight assists in 39 games. The club will hope he can progress again after his successful Eredivisie campaign. Summer needs: Like many clubs in the Eredivisie, Groningen could do with finding a striker. Resink and Thom van Bergen and Jorg Schreuders all finished joint top scorers for the club in the league this season with just five goals. Overall the side scored 40 in 34 games. If they can find a reliable goal scorer next season that could help them push for a European play-off spot. Grade: A GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson
Globe and Mail
26-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Second World War scrapbooks bring memories back to life for Globe readers
The black and white photograph has faded over the years, but it's not hard to make out the nine Canadian soldiers smiling for the camera, many with their arms draped across each other's shoulders. They're standing in a field somewhere in Italy near the end of the Second World War. There's a tiny 'x' above one of the men, with an arrow leading to a flowing signature – 'David Lloyd Ferris 64 Victoria St., Simcoe Ont Canada'. His son, David Ferris, saw the photo for the first time this month – 80 years after it was glued into a scrapbook by Klaas Nieborg, a 25-year-old school teacher in Groningen, the Netherlands. Mr. Nieborg compiled two scrapbooks in the spring of 1945 as Canadian soldiers drove the German army out of Groningen. The books – comprising 250 pages of photographs, signatures and mementoes from hundreds of Canadian servicemen – were donated to a local archive a few years ago by Mr. Nieborg's son. This month, the archives posted digitized copies online as part of the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. A recent Globe and Mail story about the scrapbooks led many readers to scour the pages to learn more about loved ones who served in the Netherlands. For some, just seeing the signature of their father or grandfather brought memories back to life. Others, such as Mr. Ferris, got to see images of their dads as young men, frozen in time. 'I was absolutely amazed to see that photo,' said Mr. Ferris, 73, who lives in Simcoe. He also spotted the signature of another soldier from the community: his father's buddy, Stan Frankis. 'He was their sergeant,' Mr. Ferris said. 'They remained friends after the war.' His father, who died in 2009, never mentioned serving in the Netherlands. He'd joined an artillery regiment and was among the Allied troops who landed in Anzio, Italy, in January, 1944. Mr. Ferris said his father spent several months in Italy before his regiment was attached to the American Fifth Army, which made its way through France and Germany. Mr. Ferris has no idea how a photo of his dad ended up in Mr. Neiborg's scrapbook. 'I never heard him say that he was in the Netherlands, but once they convoyed out of Germany, I suppose they could have touched up there.' The scrapbooks brought back complicated memories for Dara Legere – that of an unexpected phone call in 2002 informing him that he had a half-sister in Rotterdam. The caller, John Boers, was from the Association of Liberation Children. He shared that Mr. Legere's dad, Philip, had fathered a daughter while stationed in the Netherlands in the summer of 1945. The organization estimates that as many as 7,000 Dutch children were conceived by Allied troops during that period. 'We didn't know anything about her,' Mr. Legere said from his home in Joggins, N.S. Philip grew up in Joggins and joined the army in 1942 at the age of 18, largely to avoid working in the local coal mines. He spent a couple of years in England and landed in France just after D-Day in the summer of 1944. His regiment was among the Canadian troops that liberated the Netherlands in April, 1945. After coming home, Philip worked at an aircraft factory in nearby Amherst, married Patricia St. Peters and raised three children. He died in 1977; his wife passed 20 years later. Mr. Legere said it was only through the Dutch organization that his family learned of their sibling, Yvonne Fraaye, who was born in March, 1946. They were told that Philip got into an accident while driving a military truck and spent time in an Amsterdam hospital run by the Canadian Forces. While recovering, he had a romantic liaison with a nurse, Huibredina van Gurp, before he was shipped back to Canada in August, 1945. Dutch family's WWII-era scrapbooks keep the names and exploits of Canadian soldiers fresh on the page According to Mr. Legere, Ms. van Gurp had no way of contacting Philip. All she had was his name scribbled on a matchbook, along with a mailbox address in Ottawa that was used by the Canadian Army. Philip never spoke about the truck accident or his relationship. 'Nobody knew. Not even his best friends who were all in the war together,' Mr. Legere said. He and his brother were introduced to Ms. Fraaye on a Dutch television show in 2004. In an e-mail this week, Ms. Fraaye said she was seven years old when her mother, nicknamed Dien, told her about her Canadian father. Philip had wanted to take Dien to Canada and marry her. 'This was not approved by Dien's father, and Phil went back to Canada alone,' Ms. Fraaye wrote. 'After that, Dien had no more contact with Phil, but this could be because Dien's father intercepted Phil's mail.' She added that, 'I have been searching for my father ever since.' She and the Legeres have met several times, and they keep in regular contact. 'I don't see the resemblance, but other people who have met her say, 'My God, you can tell she's your sister,' ' Mr. Legere said. There's another faded photograph in the scrapbooks that Jan Davis spotted. It's a shot of her father, William Briant, leaning against a tree next to another soldier identified as V.H. Perry of Toronto. 'I've not seen that one at all,' Ms. Davis said from her home in London, Ont. 'Seeing my dad's signature and photo was lovely.' Mr. Briant grew up in Indian Head, Sask., a small town 70 kilometres east of Regina. On July 20, 1940, he joined the 17th Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery, Fifth Canadian Armoured Division. He was 17 years old. After training in Canada and England, he was part of the Allied force that landed in Naples, Italy, on Nov. 8, 1943. His regiment moved through Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, where they spent V-E Day after Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945. Mr. Briant was discharged in November, 1945, in Regina. He moved to Toronto and worked as a draftsman. Ms. Davis said her father, who died in 2000, hardly spoke about the war. 'He didn't want to relive all the stuff that happened. They saw a lot of garbage, and then they never got any help afterwards. So I think it affected them quite a lot.' She did come across a notebook where he'd written down some wartime memories. In one passage, he recalled heading off with another soldier named Bansecu to repair a radio wire that had been severed during a battle in Italy. As the two men fixed the wire, Mr. Briant noticed a German patrol heading their way. The pair hid in a thicket of trees. 'Bansecu whispered, 'What do we do?' ' Mr. Briant wrote. 'I said, 'Not a Goddam thing.' ' The Germans passed by without noticing them. 'I'll tell you I am sure glad that clump of trees grew where that break in the wire was,' he wrote. Then he added, 'I'm sorry to say Bansecu was killed later on in the war.' The Dutch archives have heard from other Canadians wondering whether their relatives are among the hundreds of soldiers mentioned in the scrapbooks. Business operations manager Anniek van Dijk-van Leeuwen said archivists are hoping to work with an Ottawa-based non-profit group called the Canadian Research and Mapping Association to develop a searchable database of the names. 'It's not going to end here,' she said. 'We really want to make a project out of this.'
