31 October 2024 – 21:36
It is rare that Sparta Rotterdam plays a match against a club that is older than the grande dame of Dutch professional football. Today there was such a meeting in the first round of the TOTO KNVB Cup. USV Hercules was the opponent at the SV Kampong sports park. The amateur club was founded in 1882 and is the largest (in terms of membership) amateur club in the Netherlands.
Last season Hercules was the giant killer in the cup tournament. The biggest achievement, with international attention, was the elimination of Ajax. Sparta Rotterdam was therefore warned that Hercules is a formidable opponent.
The first big chance for Sparta came in the fourth minute. Camiel Neghli received the ball well from Said Bakari, but his effort was saved by goalkeeper Pepijn Vonk. Ten minutes later it was Mohamed Nassoh who tried, but again Vonk was ready. Shunsuke Mito had attempt number three of the match after a good combination with Tobias Lauritsen, his shot was hard, but here too the Hercules keeper was able to save.
Rick Meissen tried it from distance after half an hour of play, and the result was a corner kick via Vonk. At that moment, Sparta had already received two yellow cards. Metinho and Marvin Young went under referee Sander van der Eijk’s book. In the last fifteen minutes before half time, nothing of note happened, so both teams went to the locker room with a 0-0 halftime score.
Shortly after the interruption, Metinho received the ball on a silver platter from Lauritsen. However, his shot went wide and over. With just over half an hour of regular playing time left, Jeroen Rijsdijk was forced to make his first substitution. Tobias Lauritsen could not continue and was replaced at the point of attack by Charles-Andreas Brym. A few minutes later, substitutions two and three arrived on the sideline. Arno Verschueren and Ayoub Oufkir replaced Metinho and Camiel Neghli.
The strength flowed away from home club Hercules. Nevertheless, Hercules occasionally tried to get out of the way dangerously and because the score was still goalless, Sparta had to continue to pay attention. The 68th minute proved this when Sel Bastmeijer received the ball on the edge of sixteen and his shot disappeared into the goal behind Nick Olij. Because a number of smoke bombs were thrown on the field, referee Van der Eijk went inside with his men and after a break of about fifteen minutes, the game continued. Shortly after the restart, Arno Verschueren headed in the equalizer from an assist from Nassoh.
In the 93rd minute, Sparta could have decided the match when Arno Verschueren got the ball on his head from a cross from Mito. However, the header went straight to Vonk. With a 1-1 score on the scoreboard, both teams were forced to go into extra time for another half hour.
Sparta took the lead after three minutes in extra time. Substitute Aymane Bays had the ball hit him and Vonk was passed for the second time. Then the resistance of the brave amateurs from Utrecht was broken. Charles-Andreas Brym scored the 1-3 in the 100th minute. It was a beautiful evening for Ayoub Oufkir, he scored the 1-4 and for the winger it was his first goal in the first team. The assist came from Pelle Clement in both the 1-3 and 1-4. After the short interruption, Sparta continued to score. Aymane Bais scored for the 1-5 on behalf of Brym. The 1-6 was for Brym on a pass from Verschueren.
For example, after a late but big victory, Sparta Rotterdam will enter the big cup ball pit of the KNVB tomorrow in the draw for the second round. The draw can be seen on ESPN from 5:00 PM on the program ‘De Voetbalkantine’.
Sparta Rotterdam line-up:
Nick Olij, Said Bakari, Marvin Young, Rick Meissen, Djevencio van der Kust, Julian Baas (79. Joshua Kitolano), Camiel Neghli (62. Arno Verschueren), Metinho (62. Ayoub Oufkir), Tobias Lauritsen (57. Charles- Andreas Brym), Mohamed Nassoh (90. Pelle Clement), Shunsuke Mito (90. Aymane Bais)
