Huddersfield Town v Reading: Mini Germany v Holland battle lies in store at Wembley

THE PARALLELS between today's two head coaches are striking.
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Both David Wagner and Jaap Stam are their respective clubs’ first appointment from outside the British Isles, and both have inspired unexpected promotion pushes from teams that finished 17th and 19th in last season’s Championship.

Perhaps the most pertinent similarity is that Huddersfield Town and Reading employ styles of play imported from the former club of their head coach on the continent. Borussia Dortmund’s gegenpressing has been introduced by Wagner – a brand of football most commonly associated with Stam’s former club Ajax.

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It means there will be an element of Germany taking on Holland today at Wembley, which considering these two men have previously clashed in those colours is apt. “We played against each other (as coaches) a couple of times with my Under-23s (at Borussia Dortmund) playing Ajax Under-23s in friendlies during the international break,” explained the Terriers’ head coach Wagner.

“He (Stam) was assistant and his assistant at Reading (Andries Ulderink) was manager of the Ajax team.

“I did not lose in either game, though to be fair, they were both at Dortmund. He has brought that style to Reading. They play with a typical Ajax Amsterdam style, what the club stands for with 4-3-3 and playing out from the back.”

This season’s meetings between Wagner and Stam both finished 1-0 to the home team, a goal from Rory Beerens proving the difference at the Madejski in September before Huddersfield exacted revenge a little over five months later via a late strike from Philip Billing in the return. Wagner continued: “Reading will know almost everything there is to know about us, I am sure.

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“Those friendlies with Dortmund second team when he was at Ajax second-team assistant manager mean we understand each other very well.

“It is very important for us to focus on ourselves and concentrate on ourselves as well as for us to trust and believe in what we are doing.”