May 8, 2022
Having lived in the Netherlands for 6 years in the late 1990s/early 2000s I used to be a season ticket holder at Sparta Rotterdam, and have visited all but three of the grounds of the current sides in the Dutch Eredivisie, the exceptions being Twente Enschede, Heracles Almelo and Go Ahead Eagles, although I have played cricket matches in both Almelo and Deventer !
My one visit to the Goffertstadion in Nijmegen wasn’t actually to watch NEC, but to watch Vitesse Arnhem play PSV Eindhoven in May 1993 whilst on the way to see the 1992/93 European Cup Final between Marseille and Milan in Munich. Calling in at Vitesse’s Nieuw Monnikenhuize stadium the day before the match, their home before moving to the Gelredome, it was disturbing to see the pitch looking like cultivated mud, but on entering the stadium offices we were advised that work was already being performed in preparation for the next season, and the match was instead being played in Nijmegen, 20 kilometres away.
In front of 21,000 spectators, before the Goffert was converted to a 12,500 all seater stadium in 2000, a Vitesse side including Raimond van der Gouw, Phillip Cocu, Hans Gillhaus and John van den Brom beat a PSV side featuring Hans van Breukelen, Jan Heintze, Barry van Aerle, Gheorghe Popescu, Gerald Vanenberg Erwin Koeman, Wim Kieft and Romario 1-0, thanks to a rare goal from left-back Edward Sturing.
My over-riding memory of the match was the substitution of van den Brom 20 minutes from the end, which brough the match to a halt as to large public acclaim, he was presented with flowers in recognition of his services to Vitesse before his transfer to Ajax for the next season. Vitesse finished 4th that season, whilst the loss for PSV cost them the title, as Feyenoord were able to overtake them, and the following week won 5-0 at Groningen, another match I attended, to secure their first title for 9 years.
I’ve never been to a match involving NEC, partly as due to my time living in the Netherlands, they had a reputation for dull, dire, defensive football in a league in which most sides played vibrant, attacking football. However, I can also claim to have played cricket at two grounds in Nijmegen !
Although I have never been to Go Ahead Eagles’ De Adelaarshorst stadium, I have seen two of their away matches. The first was in March 1994, when in front of an electric crowd of just under 10,000 at NAC Breda, the Eagles twice led but were pegged back to a 2-2 draw as a young Pierre van Hooijdonk impressed for NAC. That Go Ahead side included future Feyenoord and Dutch international star Paul Bosvelt and Australian future Millwall, Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion midfielder Jason van Blerk. The NAC line-up included future Ipswich defensive stalwart Fabian Wilnis.
My other Go Ahead Eagles match was in 2001 in the complicated Nacompetitie ( the promotion/relegation play-offs at the time ) where Sparta were victorious 3-1 in Spangen on their way to securing survival in the highest division for another season, whilst Go Ahead remained in the second division.
NEC stands for Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie and they are back in the Eredivisie after a 4 year absence, winning promotion via the play-offs after a 7th placed finish in the regular season. Victories over Almere City, Roda JC Kerkrade and NAC earnt promotion back to the top flight.
NEC’s first choice colours are red shirts with a broad green band across the front, and black shorts, and their average attendance this season prior to today was 6,550.
NEC went into this weekend’s matches in a solid, mid-table 11th, but needing one point from their final 3 matches to ensure safety for another season. They actually had the worst home record in the league with just 2 wins, 5 draws and 8 defeats, but a 7-3-6 away record had kept them away from serious danger. However, their form since the winter break had been poor, with just 2 wins and 7 defeats in 12 games. DR Congo striker Jonathan Okita ( 1 cap ) was the joint top scorer with 6 goals, the same as Ali Akman, who is on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt. Ex-Manchester City, Swansea, Stoke and Sparta Prague forward Wilfred Bony has made just one appearance since signing for NEC in March, and is out injured.
Spanish centre-back Ivan Marquez had previously played for Atletico Madrid B and Polish side Cracoiva, Brazilian defender Rodrigo Guth is on loan from Atalanta, left-sided midfielder Souffian El Karouani has one cap for Morocco, Danish midfielder Mikkel Duelund has one cap and is on loan from Dynamo Kiev, whilst 35 year old Danish midfielder Lasse Schone ( 51 caps ) is back for a second spell at NEC having also played for Ajax and Genoa.
Go Ahead were also promoted last season, but via a second placed finish for automatic promotion. They went into this round in 9th place, already assured of Eredivisie football for next season thanks to 7 home wins and 3 away from home. After three consecutive victories, they had lost their last two matches.
Go Ahead’s highlight of the season was undoubtedly a 2-1 home win over likely Champions Ajax. Spanish striker Marc Cordoba, on loan from Osasuna, was their top scorer with 9 goals, whilst Luuk Brouwers had found the net 8 times Winger Inigo Cordoba ( no relation ! ) is on loan from Athletic Bilbao
Go Ahead knocked NEC out of the KNVB Beker with a 2-0 win at the Goffert, but NEC won 2-0 in the league in the reverse fixture in December.
Bet365, who were live streaming the match, had NEC favourites at 23/20, with Go Ahead at 23/10 and the draw at 5/2. The weather at the 12.15 kick-off local time was sunny with the temperature around 18 degrees.
NEC made two changes to the starting line-up that lost 0-1 at FC Utrecht last time out, with the return of striker Akman, and Dirk Proper keeping his place after coming on as a substitute. Verdonk and Duelund dropped to the bench.
Go Ahead made one change to the side that lost 0-1 at Fortuna Sittard with Jay Idzes replacing Joris Kramer, who didn’t feature in their match-day squad. Today they were in their change strip of all purple rather than their usual red and yellow, and a decent number of supporters had made the 70km journey from Deventer to Nijmegen. The home fans were in good voice, so it all contributed to a lively atmosphere inside the virtually full stadium.
It was also a lively start from the home side on the pitch, forcing the first corner of the match after just 45 seconds as Akman’s back heel gave Tavsan some space to run at the Go Ahead back 4 but his shot was deflected well wide. In the second minute a cross beyond the far post was headed back by Okita for Guth to control with his right foot and then volley with his left, but Noppert made a finger tip save to push over the bar for another corner. Okita then made a strong run down the left wing, cut back and shot for goal from just outside the area, but two defenders dived in to block the effort.
After 10 minutes of pressure from NEC, the visitors responded with a long throw which hit a NEC defender, but keeper Branderhorst was alert and made a diving save at the base of the post to prevent a goal at the expense of a corner. Three minutes later Inigo Cordoba sent a bouncing long range shot but it was gathered by the diving keeper.
However, NEC were soon back on the front foot, Okita shooting straight at Noppert from outside the penalty area, then a nice move saw Akman deliver a left footed cross from the right wing from which Okita’s cushioned header fell to Proper, whose 20 yard shot was well held by the diving Eagles keeper.
On 25 minutes Eagles midfielder Luuk Brouwers showed good skill to make space for himself, but his effort on goal was high, wide and handsome ( as they say ! )
After 28 minutes Tavsan and Schone combined well on the right, but the low cross was mis-kicked by Akman close to the penalty spot, and the chance went begging. A minute later Tavsan showed good vision to spread the ball from right to left and El Karouani ran forward but his shot was straight into the arms of Noppert.
After an entertaining opening 30 minutes, the game started to fizzle out a little as the play became scrappy and passes started to go astray. With just under 5 minutes to the interval, a case of handbags broke out after Go Ahead were not awarded a foul, and Deijl decided to take the law into his own hands and fouled a NEC player. El Karouani got needlessly involved as a skirmish broke out. After peace was restored, Deijl and El Karouani both saw yellow.
The match then became quite feisty and Kuipers was fortunate to avoid a card after chopping down Proper. The final chance of the half came on the stroke of half-time for NEC as Bruijn beat his marker to get to the by-line but his cross to back post was headed just wide by Okita. 0-0 at the break, but NEC had been on top and had 55% of the possession.
The home side had a scare at the beginning of the second half as Branderhorst’s attempted clearance was charged down by Cordoba, but the keeper was able to dive onto the loose ball to avoid embarrassment. Tasvan then went on a weaving run but his chip to the far top corner was acrobatically turned over the bar by Go Ahead keeper.
After this opening flurry of activity, the match became quite sterile as the two sides cancelled each other out, the spectacle not helped by Bet365 stream picture getting stuck a few times !
The next piece of goalmouth action came in the 73rd minutes, when substitute Vet’s chip over the square defence was bravely gathered by Noppert before Okita could get to the ball. With the home fans continuing to urge their side on Okita ran past full-back Lucassen but his cross was intercepted and calmly played back to the keeper.
The visitors best chance came 11 minutes from time. Oratmangoen crossed from close to the by-line, but Inigo Cordoba’s header at the back post was weak and wide.
NEC brought on 19 year old Ibrahim Cissoko with just under 10 minutes remaining and the home-grown youngster immediately showed some nice touch although without any end product. Go Ahead substitute Ogechika Heil, on loan from Hamburger SV, burst into the NEC penalty area and went to ground, but it was clearly no penalty and play continued.
With the game on the verge of petering out into a goal-less draw, with 5 minutes of added time being played, Okita played a cute, short pass inside the Go Ahead area releasing Duelund to the goal-line, and his pull back across the face of game found Sissoko unmarked 6 yards from goal for him to turn the ball home for what appeared to be the winning goal.
Go Ahead still had time for one last attack, but under pressure, substitute Mulenga's header lacked power and was easily saved.
The full-time whistle blew almost immediately afterwards, as NEC confirmed their place in the Eredivisie for next season, and actually moved above Go Ahead in the table into 8th place.
NEC Nijmegen : Branderhorst – van Rooij, Marquez, Guth, – Schone, Proper ( Vet ), Bruijn ( Duelund ), El Karouani – Tavsan ( Cissoko ), Akman, Okita
Go Ahead Eagles : Noppert – Lucassen, Nauber, Idzes ( Berden ), Kuipers – Deijl ( Heil ), Brouwers, Rommens, Oratmangoen ( Bakker ) – I. Cordoba ( Mulenga ), Lidberg ( M. Cardona )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daB0AkZhOjE
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