June 8, 2023
This evening’s play-off match in the Netherlands was part of the process to determine the one side to represent their country in the Europa Conference next season. The sides that finished in 5th to 8th in the regular season were required to play two legged semi-finals and finals to achieve the winner.
Twente Enschede had finished in 5th place and overcame Heerenveen 6-1 on aggregate to qualify for the final. Sparta were 5 points behind in 6th place and needed a penalty shoot-out to eliminate FC Utrecht after the two matches has been tied 2-2 on aggregate, with both sides winning their away match.
The two matches between Sparta and Twente this season had both ended as draws, 1-1 in Rotterdam and 3-3 in Enschede, so tight encounters looked likely in the play-off.
Founded in 1988, Sparta are the oldest professional side in the Netherlands but their last appearance in European football was back in 1985/86. Sparta had a proud reputation of never having been relegated but that ended when Frank Rijkaard became coach, as they went down at the end of the 2001/02 season. Rijkaard’s reward for this achievement was to become the next coach of Barcelona !
During my 6 years living in the Netherlands, I became a season-ticket holder at Sparta. Spangen was a 25 minute drive from Leiden on a Saturday evening or Sunday afternoon, and their side at the time contained the de Nooijer brothers, Arjan van der Laan, Nico Jalink ( ex-Port Vale ), Alfons Groenendijk ( ex-Manchester City ), Edward Metgod, Carlos Fortes, Maikel Renfurm and Dennis Krijgsman. I was hooked !
My season ticket for the 1999/2000 season cost 325 Guilders and a friend of mine calculated it would have been cheaper for him to travel from Colchester via the Hook of Holland ferry to watch Sparta than to travel on the train to watch West Ham with his season ticket that year !
Sparta’s home is the 11,000 capacity Het Kasteel ( The Castle ) which was completely renovated during my time in the Netherlands. This involved rotating the pitch 90 degrees and converting their quaint, old fashioned ground to a modern all-seater stadium. Spangen wasn’t the most salubrious part of Rotterdam, and I was always quietly relieved to find my car in one piece after matches !
I saw Sparta play Twente Enschede once, a 1-1 draw in April 2020 in front of a crowd of 8,960. Danish midfielder Anders Nielsen gave Sparta a first half lead but ex-Aberdeen and Borussia Dortmund striker Scott Booth ( 21 caps for Scotland ) equalised for Twente early in the second half. The Twente side that day included Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, who went on to play for PSV and Celtic, Ajax and Everton’s Andy van der Meyde, keeper Sander Boschker, and a certain Erik Ten Haag in defence, who is now in charge at Manchester United !
The Dutch season in 1999/00 was unusual in that Ajax could only finish 5th in the table as Heerenveen and Vitesse lit-up the league to come 2nd and 4th respectively behind PSV Eindhoven. Twente came 6th and Sparta 13th.
Under former England coach Steve McClaren, Twente won the Dutch title for the only time in 2009/10. Over the years they have been regulars in European football although they last competed in 2014 until this season when they fell at the first hurdle 1-2 on aggregate to eventual finalists Fiorentina. They reached the final of the UEFA Cup in 1974/75, eliminating Juventus on the way, before losing to Borussia Moenchengladbach.
In the Netherlands they are referred to as a “sub-topper”, which basically means one of the sides expect to compete with Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord for a place in the top 4 or 5.
Enschede is in the province of Overijssel and located close to the border with Germany, with Twente being a region within the province. Locals are often referred to as Tukkers. I have never been to Enschede, but have played cricket at nearby Hengelo.
The temperature at the 20.00 local kick-off time was 22 degrees on a bright, sunny evening. The match was being streamed on Bet365.com, who made Twente 8/11 favourites, with Sparta at 15/4 and the draw at 14/5.
The Twente line-up included two Czech Internationals. Ex-Ajax midfielder Cerny had 2 caps whilst ex-PSV and Slovan Liberec midfielder Michal Sadilek had 6 caps, and had previously featured in these diaries when playing for Slovan. Ramiz Zerrouki has played 17 times for Algeria and would play in a protective face-mask tonight, Costa Rican striker Manfred Ugalde had 2 caps for his country, and ex-Norwich forward Ricky van Wolfswinkel ( 2 caps ) was a substitute.
In contrast, Sparta had no internationals in their starting XI but Japanese winger Koki Saito was on loan from Belgian side Lommel, Norwegian midfielder Joshua Kitolano appeared in these diaries when playing for Odds BK in 2021 and target-man Tobias Lauritsen is also from Norway.
The first attempt on goal occurred in the third minute but the attempt from Twente’s Smal after good work from Misidjan lacked power and Olij made a regulation save. Ugalde then robbed Sparta full-back Sambo, but Kitilano made an important tackle to end the danger.
Sparta’s first attempt on goal came in the 11th minute. Japanese left-winger Saito, who bore a remarkable resemblance to Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma, showed good control, cut back inside and then sent a right-footed shot just over the bar.
Twente’s response was for Brenet to play in Cerny to run inside the Sparta area, but his shot from a tight angle went into the side netting when perhaps playing a square ball to better placed team-mates may have been the better option.
The best chance of the first half arrived in the 16th minute, but after sliding in to meet Brenet’s cross, Sadilek could only put the ball wide from 12 yards from the centre of the goalmouth.
At this stage Masidjan, who has played for Ludogorets in Bulgaria, was looking impressive for Twente whilst all of Sparta’s dangerous moments were coming through Saito. The game started to get a bit niggly and the yellow cards started to become brandished. Spaniard Plegueznelo incurred the referee’s displeasure for a particularly nasty foul on the back of the heel of Lauritsen, Brenet chopped down Saito whilst for Sparta, Eerdhuijzen made a late tackle on Vlap, but he got there as fast as he could…….
Five minutes before half-time, Saito showed good skill and cut-back inside to pass to Kitolano who turned, but shot just over the bar.
As the half ended, Twente’s Smal’s cross from the left was headed well high over the bar by Cerny and then Vlap played in Ugalde but just as the Costa Rica was about to shoot, Vriends made an important tackle.
At half-time the scores were level in a game of few chances but the slight edge was in favour of Twente, who had 58% of the possession, but there had been only one shot on target from each side.
The second half started dramatically as trickery from Saito drew a foul from Cerny inside the Twente penalty area and when the Japanese winger fell to the floor, the referee awarded the penalty. There were few complaints from the Twente players. Van Crooik stepped up to send the spot-kick down the middle of the goal as keeper Unnerstall dived to his right.
The Tukkers responded by taking the initiative and Misidjan and Zerrouki both saw long distance efforts sail narrowly over, Sadilek had 25-yard drive well held by Sparta keeper Olij and a piledriver from Plegueznelo flew just over. However, Sparta were defending well and Twente were unable to find a way through or create any clear-cut chances inside the 18 yard box.
Amongst the substitutions made, Twente brought on Sem Steijn, who is the son of the Sparta coach Maurice Steijn for a bit of family rivalry. Cerny, who was increasingly becoming more influential skipped past Meijers but his effort from just outside the area went wide.
The battle between Saito and the twice capped Joshua Brenet was becoming more and more of a mismatch, and the full-back was withdrawn to save him from any more embarrassment, and his replacement, Icelander Alfons Sampsted announce his arrival by immediately clattering into Saito but was fortunate to avoid a yellow card.
Poor control from Sparta full-back Sambo gave Misidjan the opportunity to head for goal, but the on-loan PSV defender rectified his error with a superb tackle.
On an increasingly rare attack from the home side, Lauritsen’s header was deflected for a corner, from which Belgian Arno Verscheuren was left unmarked at the near post but his glancing header drifted narrowly wide. With 10 minutes remaining, substitute de Guzman then steered an effort from just outside the area just wide of the post.
With 4 minutes remaining a Twente corner was played to Sadilek 30 yards from goal rather than being launched into the danger zone, but the Czech’s attempt on goal went narrowly over.
It was looking like Sparta would hold on to take a narrow advantage to the second leg, but with three of the five added minutes played, Twente scored the equalizer that perhaps their pressure had merited. Sadilek was given time to deliver a cross from wide on the right, and his left-footed ball was met by Zerrouki just outside the 6 yard line before Olij could get to it, to head into the unguarded net.
Sparta did camp inside the Enschede area in the closing seconds, but after a bout of head tennis the ball was eventually cleared, and the referee blew his whistle to end the first leg with the scores all square.
The second leg looks evenly balanced. Twente had more of the play but found it hard to make an impression on the solid Sparta defence, and Sparta will always be in with a chance if they can get the ball to Saito.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY8zmuKArfc
Sparta Rotterdam : Olij – Sambo, Vriends, Eerdhuijzen, Meijers – Kitolano, Verscheuren, Namli ( de Guzman ) – Van Crooij ( Abels ), Lauritsen, Saito ( Auassar )
Twente Enschede : Unnerstall – Brenet ( Sampsted ), Plegueznelo, Propper, Smal – Cerny, Zerrouki, Vlap ( Steijn ), Sadilek, Misidjan – Ugalde ( van Wolfswinkel )
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