After ninety minutes of regular play and six minutes of extra time, there is a lot of excitement in Spakenburg’s away section when the final whistle blows at Galgenwaard.
The players of the amateur club, which has stirred things up with the elimination of Eredivision side FC Utrecht from the cup tournament and making it to the semi-finals, do not know how quickly they need to find their supporters.
“We make it easy”
“If you believe in yourself and God’s will, you can do anything,” coach Chris de Graaf concludes hoarsely on the Langs de Lijn En Omstreken radio. Spakenburg’s proud coach does not immediately understand what his club has achieved after the game.
“I started here as a five-year-old and now we are in the semi-finals of the cup. This is very nice. Look at all these people, it’s great. That’s what we do at Galgenwaard.”
Meanwhile, the Spakenburg players are having a party in the dressing room. “I already booked tickets for the Europa League!” Wimilio Vink cheered in front of the ESPN camera. The creator of 1-0 knows that the winner of the KNVB Cup will be allowed to travel to Europe next season.
Spakenburg became the third amateur club to reach the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup since the introduction of professional football in 1956. To date, no amateur club has made it to the final. Spakenburg’s next opponents come from one of the three remaining quarter-finals: sc Heerenveen-Feyenoord (Wednesday), PSV-ADO Den Haag and De Graafschap-Ajax (Thursday).
Shut up, shut up
Captain Floris van der Linden, who made the match 4-1, went to Utrecht with the thought that “something is possible”. “But this? Stop it, stop it, nobody believes that.”
Like the rest of the team, Van der Linden can’t believe it. “I can say I already feel it, but I don’t think so. I guess that’s coming.”
The faces of FC Utrecht players also see disbelief, but then about defeat. “It’s just inexplicable,” said visibly disappointed captain Mike van der Hoorn at ESPN.
“We have to deal with this, it’s a heavy blow for us.” A large part of the home team chanted “shame on you” and disappeared shortly before the end of the match. “He’s more than right,” concludes Van der Hoorn.
“You can’t lose 4-1 against a team that plays two levels lower at home,” said Bart Ramselaar, who was playing for half an hour. When asked if this was his biggest embarrassment in his football career, he replied, “Yeah, I guess so.”
The Spakenburg party will probably go on until late at night. “The last time was 4 am, it will be a little late now,” says Captain Van der Linden. “I don’t think I’ll be working tomorrow.”
Source: NOS
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
