DirK KuYt

Dirk Kuyt, officially spelled Dirk Kuijt, (born 22 July 1980, in Katwijk aan Zee) is a Dutch professional football player, who currently plays for English club Liverpool FC. He plays in the position of striker and is known for his work-rate. In his early career, and often for the Dutch national team, Kuyt played on the wing.

Kuyt missed only five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006, making 233 appearances.^[2] Between March 2001 (playing with FC Utrecht) and April 2006 (Feyenoord) Kuyt played 179 consecutive matches.

Upon joining Liverpool, Kuyt stated "I only wanted to leave Feyenoord for a really big club, and that is what Liverpool are. They are a fantastic, big club and it will be a real pleasure to play here."^[5]

After sitting out the first game Kuyt made his Liverpool debut as a substitute against West Ham on 26 August. His first start came against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League and he has been first choice in most games since. In his third start for the club on 20 September 2006 Kuyt scored his first goal against Newcastle United in a Premiership game at Anfield,^[6] and followed up with another against Tottenham Hotspur in the next game. He scored his third goal for Liverpool with his father watching the game at Anfield, contributing to Liverpool's 3–1 win over Aston Villa. Two weeks later he bagged a brace, as the only scorer in the Reds' 2–0 victory against Premiership newcomers Reading.

Kuyt has won much praise for his early performances, with The Mirror stating: "The Dutch striker has the look of a cult hero in the making"^[7] and The People reporting that he is "propelling himself towards iconic status."^[8] One of the reasons for his early popularity is his post match courtesy to the fans. After each match he walks to every corner of the ground, and applauds the Liverpool supporters.

On January 20, 2007 Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring against Chelsea after only 4 minutes after a Peter Crouch flick-on. Liverpool went on to defeat the champions 2–0. It was the first time Rafa Benitez had defeated Jose Mourinho in the Premiership. It was also the first goal scored by Liverpool against a top four club in the league in the 2006-07 season. Kuyt moved his league-goal tally into double figures by scoring the first goal in the game against West Ham on 30 January 2007.

Dirk played a key part in Liverpool's penalty shoot-out win over Chelsea in the semi-finals of the 2006-07 Champions League. Firstly in extra-time Dirk had a goal disallowed for offside from Xabi Alonso's strike. He also scored the winning penalty in the shoot-out, and scored a consolation goal in their 2–1 defeat to AC Milan in the final.

He bagged his first goals of the 2007–2008 season in Liverpools 4–0 victory over Toulouse FC in their 3rd round qualifying encounter at Anfield on August 28th 2007.

Kuyt scored two penalties against Everton in the Merseyside derby to give Liverpool the edge and win 2-1.

Despite his promising first season and start to his second, Kuyt failed to score in 13 games for Liverpool, before netting against Barnsley in the fifth round of the FA Cup. This goal drought has led his endless running and high work rate's effectiveness to come into question.

However on February 19th 2008, Kuyt made an incredible contribution in reviving Liverpool's hope of winning any silverware by scoring the first goal in the first leg of the round of 16 of the 2007-08 Champions League against favourites Inter Milan. The end result was 2-0 for Liverpool on a dramatic European night with skipper Steven Gerrard netting the second.

Kuyt has been recently employed as a right winger, setting up two of Fernando Torres's goals against West Ham in March 2008. Recently Kuyt has been included in the team again, on 2nd April 2008, Kuyt scored an equalising goal against Arsenal at the Emirates stadium.