(CM 4) In the Groin Again? OH.. in GRONINGEN!

[SirFozzie]

(From Four-Four-Two Magazine)

Groningen FC announced a month before the start of the Dutch Eredivisie that they had sacked coach Ron Jans, and announced the promotion of U18's coach Alan Klosterman to the head job.

When pressed for the reasons for Jans's dismissal, the spokesman for the Groningen Board of Directors stated that there "was a fundamental difference between the expectations of our fans and that of the current management".

The 27 year old Klosterman, a graduate of the club's management training program, had been the head man of the Under 18 side for Groningen since a knee injury ended his playing days in 1999.


It's funny, the difference between what gets printed, and the truth. Apparently, the reason Jans had been let go is that he had basically called his side no-hopers in the Eredivisie, that they would be extremely lucky to avoid the drop. That wouldn't be too bad, in fact, most of the Board had the same expectations.

However, to make the statement to the PRESS, right before season tickets go on sale.. well..you can imagine that the statement didn't sit well with the fans!

After that statement, Assistant Manager Hans Schrijver refused to take on the headman job on a full time basis, so the job fell to me, as the club didn't want to spend money that they didn't have to.

Of course, a relative unknown (only 31 games, mostly as a sub, for lower division Dutch sides), being appointed to the job didn't sit well with the fans either, and they seem ready to walk if we can't beat the odds.

We have 1.2 Million Euros to play with as a Transfer Kitty, or 825,000 British Pounds, as our treasurer, Mr De Vries, would say (he hates the Euro with a passion).

Here's some of the players on our team as we gathered for our first game:

Goalkeepers

13. Roy Beukenkamp (34) Valued at 1.4 Million Euros

Probably our first choice between the posts, a fairly good goalstopper.. great reflexes, but the years might be catching up with him, as he's not prone to rushing out.

1. Egbert Darwinkel (36) Valued at 650K (E)

Probably the last year for the Old man, and he's played only sparingly the last five years, as he's only played 22 times for us since he joined in 97-98.

27. Mike Romer (16) A youth system player, will play for the reserves and U19 squads, will likely be signed to a full term deal come May, when he turns 17

Defenders
24. Mohammed Allach (28, D/DM RLC), 1 Cap For Morocco, valued at 2.5 Mill Euros

Decent, will likely work in a squad rotation.

2. Kurt Elshot (25, D R) 1.5 Mill (E)

Will start on the right side of defense, may see a lot of action there.

8. Mathias Floren (25, D L) 1.4 Mill (E), 2 Caps for Sweden

Our starting left back, he is fluent in five languages, and acts as a translator when we need one (which isn't often)

3. Magnus Johansson (30, D L) 1.1 Mill (E), 1 Cap for Sweden

Will work in and out with Floren

5. Sander van Gessel (25, D/DM LC) 1.6 Mill (E)

Will likely move from Defense to Defensive Midfield depending how we need him, one of the toughest defenders I've seen.

12. Melchior Schoenmakers (26, D/DM C), 1.4 Mill

A tough guy, will have to learn to keep his head on his shoulders.

Midfield

11. Joost Broerse (23, D/DM L), 2.6 Mill (E)

Very nice, will fill the left side of midfield very well. Hope we can keep him for a while! Will Captain our team, at least in the early stages

7. Mile Krstev (25, DM R) 2.2 Mill (E) 11 Caps, 3 Goals for Macedonia

We will play a very defensive midfield setup, and he will have to put the right side of midfield in lock down for us to be successful.

6. Jordi Hoogstrate (19, DM C) 2.4 Mill (E)

I'd like to keep this guy for a couple more years, as he's in the last year of his contract. Will depend on his demands.

(No #) Pius Ikedia (AM/F R) 4.5 Mill (E) ((ON LOAN FROM AJAX), 11 Caps for Nigeria

I don't see him really fitting in, but he's quick and fast.

20. Hugo (AM C) 2.6 Mill (E), Brazillian

We have him through 2005, but it's unknown is we will have him forever, as he is a NICE player, and only has a mininum release fee of 4.4 Mill (E)

19. Ignacio Tuhuteru (28, AM/F L)

A Backup to the first team, but I don't know for how much longer, as we may need more offense on the left side.



Forwards

9. Dejan Curovic (33, F C) 725K (E) , 7 Caps for Yugoslavia

Nice player, but he's not a native (only speaks Serbian), and is making a few noises about new challenges.. dunno if we'll have him for long.

21. Martin Drent (S C), 1.4 Mill (E)

That rarety, a dutch player who can take a penalty, and is excellent if we can get him the ball in the air.

10. Glenn Salmon (S C), 3.1 Mill (E) 2 Caps for S. Africa

Energetic as all get out, he has to be reminded that his job is up front putting the ball in the net. One of Jans's last moves was to sign Salmon to a five year deal.

[SirFozzie]

We have a game the night of my appointment, as German side Bayern Leverkusen come to visit for a friendly, and my fears about our defense get a boost as Leverkusen's Diego Placente scores a rocket of a goal from 30 yards out 12 minutes in, and it's mostly one way traffic against it. Luckily, they have another 30 yard strike ruled out due to a little argy bargy right before the halftime break, and we trail 1-0 at the break.

We're down a 2nd goal shortly after the break, as a shot is saved by Beuenkamp, but the ball spills directly to Yildiray Basturk, and he makes no mistake. Our best chance to break the goose egg comes with 15 minutes to play, as a 25 yard shot from Broerse hits the post and rockets away.

We do look to have the better of the play, but Leverkusen adds a third to the scoresheet, as Huzeyfe Dogan scores on another rebound (I see we're going to have to work on that!) and it's an unflattering 3-0 defeat.

Gronigen 0-3 Bayern Leverkusen Att: 12,911

[SirFozzie]

Hugo tweaked his ankle, and misses a week of practice, but that shouldn't be too bad, as we prepare for the season by scheduling a game against my old side, the Gronigen U18's before playing Telstar to finish off the friendlies. Starting August 9th is the Dutch Cup, with a group stage, and we get drawn against 1st Division sides Cambuur Leeuwarden (Home), BV Veendam (Away), and amateur side ACV (Home). We hope to qualify from the group.

This gives me time to hunt up the Transfer Market and see what we can purchase or loan to help us in our quest for survival.

With our scout system active, We start signing players to shore up weak spots:

(No #) Stephen Hughes (25, M L/C) (Valued at 1.1 Mill (E), English

Will provide some creativity and punch to our midfield.

[SirFozzie]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The friendly between the two Groningen sides is sparsely attended, and it has all the earmarks of a glorified scrimmage, but both sides play hard. Two scrambling goals from Salmon and Drent are the difference. Not as polished as I'd like, but it was 90 minutes of action, so I guess I can't complain, especially since there was no injuries in the match at Groningen's Oosterpark.

Groningen 2-0 Groningen U18 (Salmon 18, Drent 31), Att: 231)

[MIJB#19]

Groningen is pronounces as = (throat scrapping sound+"ow"+"ning"(ing as in thing)+"un".

That's sad for Jans, getting sacked before coaching a single game...

The fans in Groningen can be very harsh, so you will have to perform well at home.
Don't try to play as the 'real life' Groningen, they're about to break a record this season: the most 0-0's in a single year...

Is Paul Matthijs not on this team?

Make sure you beat BV Veendam in the cup, they're your rivals (besides Heerenveen).

[SirFozzie]

18. Paul Matthijs (25, DM R/C) Valued at 1.7 Mill (E) Should be fairly good, we see him working as a part of the starters often.

No sooner does Hugo get better, when he tweaks a hamstring and will miss two weeks. We growl, but it's apparently a legitimate injury, so he misses out on our fun practices.

We travel to Telstar, and we give Romer a game between the posts to see how good the youngster is, and he makes 3 very good saves (5 in total), but unfortunately, we're just as bad up front, as we don't place a single one of our 7 attempted shots on goal, and it ends a scoreless draw.

Telstar 0-0 Groningen Att: 3137

Spain's Valencia has gone South American for their recent signing, as they sign Brazillian international Vampeta from Flamengo for 11.75 Million euros

We take a break mid week to watch the Euro Qualifiers, and the home nation doesn't disappoint, although two first half goals by Deportivo's Roy Makaay are barely enough, anad Holland holds off Belarus 2-1 in Euro Group 3.

We get official notice that more then half the team are in the final year of the contract, so we start negotiations, hoping our wage budget can stretch to cover all this!

[SirFozzie]

Four players (Drent, Broerse, Hoogstrate, Beuenkamp) are willing to re up early in the year. I probably could get them for less later in the year, but truthfully, it's one less headache to worry about and with this team, we have enough headaches already!!!

We lose out on one of our hopeful loan signings as Real Madrid's striker Tote prefers a move inside La Liga to Real Betis instead of traveling to the Oosterpark.

We start the Dutch Cup with a game against Caambur, and we get a quick goal up, as Van Gessel is scythed down in the box, and Drent cooly slots home the 7th minute penalty to put us up 1-0 early.

We double that lead with our first goal of the year from regular play in the 20th minute, as Broerse's corner kick find Salmon just inside the six yard box, and he nods it home for a 2-0 cushion.

Salmon makes it 3-0 before a half hour has pased, as he controls a Krstev cross and puts it home in the top corner, and we're cruising at the break.

The 2nd half is more of the same, we narrowly miss a fourth or more a few times, but all in all, we'll definitely take the 3-0 win! The only bad news is that Stephen Hughes will miss three weeks with a broken jaw.

Groningen 3-0 Cambuur (Drent 7 (pen), Salmon 22, 29) Att:9543

In the other group game, Amateur side ACV pulls off the upset by defeating 1st division side Veendam 2-1, so we're sitting pretty on top by goal differential, and we should be in good shape if we defeat Veendam in our next group game,

[SirFozzie]

We manage to add another player on loan, as we add PSV Eindhoven youngster Marquinho on a season long loan.

(No # yet) Marquinho (AM/F LC, 20) Valued at 2.8 Mill (E), Brazil

Will definitely fill Hughes's role, hopefully we can get a lot of use out of him this year.

What was supposed to be a friendly with ADO turns very UNfriendly very quickly. By the end of the game, we've not only lost 3-0, we had two players injured (Salmon and Marquinho in his &*@)$&@) Debut), and Schoenmakers will miss the Group Stage match as he gets sent off for kicking out at an ADO player Trust me, I hope we meet ADO next year, as we have every intention of returning the favor!

[SirFozzie]

Both Marqunho and Salmon only miss a day of practice, and are fit for the game against Veendam, which is doubly important, as it's a Cup game and a derby as well.

Salmon makes his point quickly, scoring twice in the 38 minutes before he tweaks the injury he suffered against ADO, but we're up 2-0 at the half, and we shut it down for the day, much to the jeers of Veendam's fans as we play more defensively in the 2nd half, but the away fans are singing long and proud through the 2nd half as we take it, and pretty much set ourselves up for winning the group, as Cambuur defeats ACV 3-1. We do have a Dutch Eredivisie game before we play ACV, but with the top two teams qualifying, we're well on our way.

Group standings (Won-Drawn-Lost), (Goals For-Against-Difference) (Pts)
Groningen (2-0-0) (5-0-+5) (6 Pts)
Cambuur (1-0-1) (3-4-(-1)) (3 Pts)
ACV (1-0-1) (3-4-(-1)) (3 Pts)
Veendam (0-0-2) (1-4-(-3)) (0 Pts)

Fixtures for 8/20 (Home team listed first)
Cambuur (D1) vs Veendam (D1)
Groningen (ED) vs ACV

We're slightly favored against Roda, which will open our Eredivisie season.

[SirFozzie]

Ajax serves notice to the rest of Dutch football that they are going to be tough to beat this year, breaking open a 2-1 game with three 2nd half goals to destroy PSV 5-1 at the Amsterdam ArenA to hoist the Dutch Super Cup in front of 30,000 fans.

In Euro transfer action, AC Milan grabs Portugese Winger Simao from Portugal's Benfica for 13.25 Million Euros, in a busy day that also sees Leeds sell Olivier Dacourt (to Atletico Madrid for 6.25 Million), and Atlanta acquire Edmilson from Lyon (France) for 5.25 Million.

The first fourty five minutes of the Eredivisie opener could be described as having "Ruthless Defending". It could also be described as "boring", as there are only two shots in the first fourty five minutes, and neither were on goal, so the two sides went into the break scoreless.

Even though Groningen had the better of chances throughout the 2nd half, it looked like we were on the verge of a Groningen specialty, the 0-0 draw, when a shot from Hoogstrate took a wicked deflection and scooted past the goalie, and we had pulled it out, 1-0!

Groningen 1-0 Roda (Hoogstrate 80) Att:12,150

[SirFozzie]

The injuries continue to mount, as Salmon is still out with his injury, Hugo is just coming back, and Schoenmakers and Curovic will miss two and three weeks with assorted bangs and tweaks.

It's a pretty relaxed side that takes the field for our final group stage game against ACV, knowing that a draw against the amateur side would clinch our passage through to the knockout stages of the Dutch Cup. Marquinho is healed up, and makes his first official start in Groningen colors, and he scores twice in the first half, and Krstev and Drent add single goals, and we're up 4-0 at the break.

ACV desperately plays defense trying to spare their blushes any further, but Marquinho adds two more 2nd half goals, and we've hit ACV for SIX, and win the group and passage to the knockout stage!

Groningen 6-0 ACV (Marquinho 18,43,78, 86, Krstev 26, Drent 30) Att:10,469

Cambuur will be joining us in the first round of the Dutch Cup, as they defeat Veendam 2-1. The first round is not until November.

[vtbub]

Cool read.

[SirFozzie]

Thanks VT

With under 10 days until the transfer window closes until the end of the year, there's plenty of transfer action going on, with Manchester United raiding Portugese side Sporting, sigining Joao Pinto for 8.75 Million Euros, Brazillian international Kleberson will head to Atletico Madrid for 8 million from Atletico Paranaense , and Arsenal signing Monaco defender Rafael Marquez (6 million).

Even though we won't play it for two and a half months, the first round of the Dutch Cup is drawn, and we will get fellow Eredivisie side NEC in the first round at Groningen.

Vitesse is a completely different story from playing ACV, and we get cut down to size quickly as they score twice in the first twelve minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Drent pulls one back off a feed from Marquinho to reduce the deficit to 2-1 at the break.

They stretch it in the 2nd half with a third goal that was like a rocket from Amoah just outside the box. Drent cuts the lead back to one late, but we can't find the equalizer and fall.

Vitesse 3-2 Groningen (Drent 20, 76) Att:19,130

[SirFozzie]

We get beaten in our next game 2-0, but even though it's a home loss and two losses in a row, I'm not that upset, Ajax is a very good team and we gave them a heck of a game.

Groningen 0-2 Ajax Att: 12,978

PSV Eindhoven is the first team to play in the Champions League group stage, as they scrap to a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United, (tough group, PSV, Newcastle, Juventus and Slovenian side NK Maribor)

The other two Dutch sides in the 32 team Champs League draw, Feyenoord and Ajax played a day later, and were not as successful, as Celtic beat Feyenoord 3-1 as Glasgow Park, and italian side Roma squeezed by Ajax 1-0.

We make a deal, that will become official when the Transfer Window reopens, that will see VfB Stuttgart's defender join us for 750K (E), and he will join us on the first day of the transfer window, Tuesday, December 31st.

We travel to face our hated rivals Heerenveen, and things are looking pretty good as Salmon scores his 5th goal of the year five minutes into the 2nd half, but that just made them angry, I guess, as they rip off four unanswered goals, as we fail to defend at range and they just pick us apart with two goals from 35 yards out, and goalkeeping which has been a good point so far, is now a question mark, we are in 16th, it's still early in the year, but we want to make sure there's no chance of even dropping into the playoffs this year (the bottom team of the 18 team Eredivisie is relegated, and the next two teams go into a promotion/relegation pool with two First Division teams)

Heerenveen 4-1 Groningen (Salmon 50) Att 14,300

[MIJB#19]

Ouch, 3-2 loss at Vitesse, 4-1 loss at Heerenveen, your seat must be getting warm already being in 16th place so early on.
If the board expects European football, those scores are not good at all, plus the 0-2 Ajax loss would be bad as well.

BTW, the relegation playoffs are 2 groups of 4 teams with one Eredivisie side in each group. Onyl the winners will go to the Eredivisie the year after.

18. Paul Matthijs (25, DM R/C) Valued at 1.7 Mill (E) Should be fairly good, we see him working as a part of the starters often.

One has got to love that last name...

[SirFozzie]

Fortunately, the board only expects me to improve the club's squad this year. What they say in public may be a different matter

Things will get better, I promise. (Ok, so they might get worse before they get better )

Our offense is officially sputtering, as we can't even seem to get a coherent attack going, and our defense looks to save us for at least a draw against Excelsior at home, but a 78th minute Excelsior shot takes a deflection of Van Gessel and into the net past a wrong footed Beuenkamp and we fall for the third straight game.

Groningen 0-1 Excelsior Att: 12,320

We travel to AZ for our next game, and once again, our offense doesn't inspire much dread in our opponents, although Marquinho hits the post late, but we do hang on to break the losing streak at 3, but it's time for a tactical change, as we are creating NOTHING in midfield.

AZ 0-0 Groningen Att:8,388

Despite mounting injuries (including Schoenmakers against AZ), we still have plenty of warm bodies, and we adjust our play to go through the wings more, as we have been dilly-dallying with the ball WAY too much.

With a trip to Groningen by bottom side Zwolle on tap, we need to get our heads back on a winning course, and on a fairly cool Sunday at the Oosterpark, our new tactics seem to inspire the team (as well as the various threats to paychecks), and the team scores two goals (Drent and Curovic)in the first half hour, and we add a third late by Allach, and temporarily pull ourselves to safety with a good win.

Groningen 3-0 Zwolle (Drent 13, Curovic 27, Allach 85) Att:12.109

We're at home again to Willem II and while there is some signs of complacency on the offense, we do create several chances, and our defense is pretty air tight for what many consider a bottom side. Willem II may be mid-table, but when Salmon took a nice series of passes from Hugo and Mathjis and put one past the Willem II keeper with 18 minutes left, we've secured our 2nd straight win.

Groningen 1-0 Willem II (Salmon 72) Att: 12,316

The win moves us up to 11th, with a record of 3 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. (10 Points) Our defense, which was a question mark against Heerenveen has been pretty good lately, with Beuenkamp working on a streak of 288 minutes without a goal against.

[SirFozzie]

A couple more sets of Champions League games have been played, and here's the results, a banner set of games for Dutch football.

Feyenoord secured a thrilling 3 all draw at Turkish side Galatasaray, while Ajax convincingly beating Manchester United at the ArenA 2-0, and PSV defeating Juventus at home 2-1.

In the next set of games, Feyenoord scores the big win for Dutch football, defeating Real Madrid 1-0 on a Pierre van Hooijdonk goal in the 12th minute, Elsehwere, Ajax can only manage a 3-3 draw at Belgian side Genk, and PSV scores a win, 2-1 away at Maribor

Ajax are much richer now, as they have sold Cristan Chivu to Valencia (12.5 Mill (E))

[SirFozzie]

Holland moves two points clear of Group 3 with a 2-1 win at Austria, two points ahead of the Czech Republic and Belarus (who have played 3 games, to two for the Czechs and Holland). Ruud van Nistelrooy was the hero, scoring the game winner in the 74th minute.

We travel to RBC, the last of our easy games, as it likely will get much tougher down the road, and we're quickly up 2-0, from a deflected free kick and a penalty. However, from that point on, it's mostly one way traffic, and it's all hands man the pump time, as we face a barrage of shots from RBC. They do cut the lead to 2-1 (the first goal allowed in 330+ minutes!) early in the 2nd half, but some judicious substitutions reduce the amount of turnovers in midfield, and we hold on for the win.

RBC 1-2 Groningen (Broerse 5, Drent 8 (pen)), Att: 5,000

The win moves us up to 8th in the Eredivisie, comfortably midtable (seven points behind leader PSV, and six points ahead of playoff candidates Utrecht, Zwolle, and RKC)

[SirFozzie]

Another round of Champions League games, and with two games left in the first group stage, things are beginning to fall into place

PSV clinches advancing to the 2nd stage of the Champions League with two games to spare as they post a 2-1 win at home against Slovenian side Maribor, they lead group D with 10 points, one ahead of Juventus, Maribor and Newcastle (3 and 1, respectively) are fighting for third to drop into the UEFA Cup.

Feyneoord couldn't complete the double over Real Madrid, losing 3-1, and putting themselves in real danger in Group E, where Celtic leads with 9 points, Real has six, and Galatasaray and Feyenoord both have 4 points, but Galatasaray have a significantly better Goal Difference (0 compared to -3 for Feyenoord)

Ajax demolished Genk 5-2, and combined with Roma shocking Man United 4-1 at Roma, leading to a wide open Group G, as Ajax lead with 7 points, Roma and Manchester United have six, and Genk currently on the outside looking in at 4 points.

[SirFozzie]

We travel to the Phillips Stadion in Eindhoven to take on Eredivisie leaders PSV, and we know we're in for a rough time. PSV does take the lead on 10 minutes, when Jan Vennegor of Hesselink (that's his full name!) scores to give them a 1-0 advantage. It's mostly one-way traffic, but we do try a few good counters (including a one on one opportunity for Salmon, saved by PSV goalie Waterreus).

Late in the game, with Groningen desperately trying for an equalizer, Mateja Kezman scores a clincher with the final kick of the game in injury time, and we're beaten but unbowed, and maybe we belong mid-table or better!

PSV 2-0 Groningen Att: 22,758

In the Champions League, Feyenoord lost at home 1-0 to Celtic, so they will travel to Galatasaray needing a win to get a UEFA cup spot. Ajax drew 4-4 with Roma, and likely will need a win at Old Trafford against Manchester United to advance, as they are currently in 2nd place in the group. PSV continued to steamroller their group, defeating Newcastle 2-0.

Our next game against lower side RKC? Lets just say the crowning moment of glory was backup goalkeeper Egbert Darwinkel running out to get ball outside the box, crossing it back across the field, and watching the wind push the high arcing ball into his own net! ( I wish I had the ability to send a video of this highlight, it just boggles the mind, I've NEVER seen something so stupid before!!!!)

RKC 3-0 Groningen Att:7484

[SirFozzie]

Darwinkel gets an official warning, and a private vow to never have him play again. He thinks the warning is harsh. i tell him, that the official warning is nothing compared to what I want to do to him because of that !*&@_)$& screwup, and his general ability (or lack there of) in net.

We have a pair of games at home against NEC, first in the Dutch Cup 1st round, and then again in the Eredivisie, where they are currently standing fourth in the league.

The Cup game is very tight, and very nerve wracking, especially since referee Suli Ifrandi is apparently testing out his automatic pop up card machine. Every so often, it *dings* and a yellow card pops up, which he then waves at the nearest player. Eight yellow cards, four each way are awarded, it's a wonder that no one got sent off.

With 20 minutes to play, Drent breaks a scoreless tie with a great goal, as he took the feed from Salmon and volleyed it home. NEC went on the offensive to try to pull the goal back, but we had the answer for that as Salmon scored twice in the last 16 minutes to ensure passage through to the next round.

Groningen 3-0 NEC (Drent 68, Salmon 74, 85) Att: 11,412

The next game sees NEC trot out onto field to sarcastic comments from the fans of "Hey, here we go again!", and they came out firing, attempting to make us pay for their cup exit. They burnt out quickly however, as all six of their shots on net (out of seven attempts) were in the first 25 minutes, and Curovic scored twice, and we had pulled off the double.

Groningen 2-0 NEC (Curovic 35,72) Att: 12,796

We will play fellow Eredivisie side De Graafschap in the 2nd round, at their stadium. And the funny thing is, that's the next place we go.. (I have a feeling the FA's getting a kick out of making us travel to the same place repeatedly)

Against De Graafschap, we take the lead on a 16th minute rebound from Curovic. A dodgy tripping call in the box led to a penalty, but in true Dutch "Style", van Gastel put one about five feet above the bar, and we breathed a sigh of relief.

Salmon then starts a great day as he scores in the 32nd minute on a one-on-one opportunity to put us up 2-0 at the break. He then makes it 3-0 eight minutes into the 2nd half with another breakaway goal.

Valeev cuts the lead to 3-1 in the 59th minute with a brilliant header from a tight angle, but Salmon puts it beyond reach, and also clinches his hattrick with a goal with 13 minutes left until full time. Another big win for the Groningen side!

De Graffschap 1-4 Groningen (Curovic 16, Salmon 32,53,77) Att: 10,963

Up next is Feyenoord at home. Feyenoord are officially out of Europe after a 1-1 draw in Turkey at Galatasaray, and they look to take it ou on us, but much to their surprise, they find themselves down two goals (Curovic and Salmon) in the first twenty minutes. van Hooijdonk personally brings them level with goals in the 31st and 38th minute.

The 2nd half has long stretches of Feyenoord laying siege to the Groningen net, and Beukenkamp has all he can handle keeping the game tied. Fortunately, we have one last trick in our grasp, as losing points after being up two goals would definitely be a downer, as Salmon notches his 2nd of the day and fifth in the past two days with a goal 16 minutes from full time, and it's party time at the Oosterpark!

Groningen 3-2 Feyennoord (Curovic 16, Salmon 19,74) Att: 12,983

14 games in, here's a hand typed table:

PSV 32
Ajax 28
Vitesse 27
Feyenoord 25
NEC 25
Excelsior 22
GRONINGEN 22
AZ 20
De Graafschap 20
Willem II 19
Heerenveen 18
Utrecht 16
Roda 15
Twente 15
RKC 14
Zwolle 13
NAC Breda 13
RBC 7

[SirFozzie]

We already know that Feyenoord are now out of Europe after finishing last in their group (by goal differential), and Ajax are now UEFA-Cup Bound, as they lost to Manchester United 3-1 to finish 3rd in their group, and it doesn't get any easier for Ajax, as they drew Parma in the third round of the UEFA cup.

PSV lost to Juventus in their final group 1 game, but they had long since qualified and will be the only Dutch side in the final 16, however, they got drawn into the Group of Death in the 2nd stage, as they are in Group D with world heavyweights Arsenal, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich.

The only other Dutch club still with European aspirations is Utrecht, who are having a horrible year domesic wise (3 points above the playoff zone), but are in the third round, and will take on French side Bordeaux.

[MIJB#19]

Groningen 3-2 Feyenoord

Impressive!
4 straigiht wins (including the cup win), that's not bad at all, Sir!
How about Glenn Salmon, 7 goals in the last 4 games. I didn't know Salmon was that good...

How's the seat of Van Marwijk (coach) at Feyenoord? Out in Europe, 4th in the Eredivise (7 points behind and already 17 points lost) and Excelsior (the B squad of Feyenoord) only 3 points away.
Or is the board waiting as Ajax and PSV are not doing so well either in the league, plus PSV having some exhausting CL games coming up?

... Utrecht ... are in the third round, and will take on French side Bordeaux.

Forza Utreg, Olé, olé!

[SirFozzie]

MIJB: The board is very pleased with myself , and yes Salmon is turning into a top scorer for us . I was getting frustrated with all the one-on-ones he couldn't convert earlier in the year, but he's cracking them in now.

Van Narwijk is still listed as safe.

We travel to Twente in an attempt to continue our recent hot streak, and it's a tight game, although a costly one. Curovic gets crocked just before the halftime whistle in a bad tackle (which doesn't even get called! ) and we go into the break knotted at 0.

With a half hour left to play, Curovice's substitute Drent opens the scoring for us, and we're looking good... even though Drent strains a muscle in his thigh and has to come off himself. With Salmon picking up his third yellow of the year early in the 2nd half, it's going to be dangerously thin up front for our mid week cup game. To make thngs worse, Twente get a goal 3 minutes from time from Jurgen Cavens and it ends knotted.

Twente 1-1 Groningen (Drent 72) Att: 13337

So, it's off to De Graafschap again, this time in the mid-week Dutch Cup 2nd round clash and some of the boys are a bit tired. Drent recovered enough so that he plays alongside seldom used Tuhuteruy, who is more of an attacking winger, up front.

It's a tight defensive game, and De Graafschap score the first goal of the match, as Dennis Schulp scores five minutes into the 2nd half. Fortunately, Hugo equalizes 11 minutes frm time, but unfortunately that means we have 30 minutes of Extra Time to play. We have a couple decent chances, but no one can break the deadlock, so it's off to penalties.

The first two attempts for each side (van Gastel and Schulp for them, Drent and Hoogstrate for us), are easily taken and converted, when we seemingly get a break as Culina sends one off the post. However, we can't convert our own attempt, as Hugo puts it right in to the arms of the goalie. Hermans converts for De Graafschap, and when Schoenmakers puts it wide, we are at match point against, and Van Der Brom ends our cup adventure as he makes no mistake.

De Graafschap 1-1 Groningen (Hugo 79) *De Graafschap wins 4-2 on penalties* (Att: 8.479)

It's thoroughly disappointing to take the game to extra time and penalties and fall, and we've played 210 minutes of football on sunday and Tuesday. We have five days to recover before playing Utrecht.

[SirFozzie]

A definite mixed bag for the Dutch sides in Europe: Ajax are teetering on the edge of elimination as Parma tore them apart, 3-0, in the first leg of the UEFA Cup Third Round Tie. Utrecht have a narrow lead over Bordeaux, 2-1, but it'll be nailbiting time as the two sides head to Bordeaux for the 2nd leg.

In the Champs League, PSV's 2nd stage began in reverse, as they lost at home to Barcelona, 4-2. Huge upset in Group C, as Ukranian side Shaktar beat Real Madrid 1-0 at home.

[SirFozzie]

Next up is a game against 15th place Utrecht, who are hovering just above the playoff/playout zone. Apparently their Euro adventures have taken a lot out of them this year. It's a very cynical game, as every time we build an attack, they stop it with a foul, which earns them a couple bookings from an obviously unimpressed referee. The game is marred by a horrendous injury, as Utrecht midfielder Paschal Bosschaart will miss likely the rest of the season after breaking his leg on an awkward challenge.

Fortunately, just after the hour mark, we break through with a great goal as Salmon intercepts a lazy back pass, and after a 45 yard run past two defenders, gets past the goalie and slots it home. Thre minutes later, Marquinho puts home another bad clearance, and it's 2-0 to the well and good!

Groningen 2-0 Utrecht (Salmon 62, Marquinho 65) Att:12,728

The win moves us up to fifth in the Eredivisie and some folks are talking about a possible European berth for next year, but we are not even halfway through the year, so I quickly quash that talk. We're only 10 points above the playoff zone, so there's no early celebrations, as a streak of bad games can easily drag us down into the quagmire. Our next game would be a good indicator if we have a realistic chance, as we take on fourth placed Vitesse at the Oosterpark

[SirFozzie]

With the winter break coming up after the Vitesse game, we work on a friendly tournament that would see our rivals play a game to keep their skills sharp. We invite Heerenveen, Veendam, and our reserve side (which currently tops the Reserve leagues) to the tournament. They all accept, and we draw Heerenveen in the semifinal, while Veendam and the Reserves will play after us. The losers meet in the third place game the next day, and the winners play in the Groningen Cup Final that night.

In Europe, there's just one team left making the case for Dutch football, as Ajax fell just short in the second leg, winning 3-1 over Parma, but losing 4-3 on aggregate, and Bordeaux win 3-0 at home over Utrecht, winning 4-2 on aggregeate. PSV didn't do any better, falling 1-0 at Bayern Munich, to fall into a tie with Arsenal for last place in the group, with two losses, while Bayern and Barcelona lead the group with two wins. PSV's game against Arsenal in a week will likely eliminate one team from advancing.

[SirFozzie]

Vitesse comes into town, hoping to make a move on the leaders, while Groningen, four points behind Vitesse for fourth place, want to pull them back a bit. They score first, as a 45 yard strike by Van Halst takes a redirect of Allach and past Beukenkamp to give the visitors a 1-0 lead 19 minutes in.

Salmon fed Drent for an equalizer five minutes later, and Salmon seemed to have won us the lead late in the first half when he gets pushed over in the box, but Drent's shot is saved magnificently, and we go into the break 1-1.

In the second half, we have a few good chances, and we finally convert when the cross from Mathjis finds Drent just inside the box and he fires it into the top corner, and we're up 2-1. We hve chances to stretch the lead, but they are not to be, but Beukenkamp is hardly troubled, and we take the win to remain fifth!

Groningen 2-1 Vitesse (Drent 24,66) Att: 12,981)

It was a wild final set of games before the winter break. AZ, 10th in the Eredivisie, pull off the major upset, defeating PSV 3-1 at home, but Ajax can't pull the leaders back, as 9th placed Willem II defeat them 2 nil.

Here's the standings as the winter break is upon us: (17 of 34 rounds played)

PSV 36
Feyenoord 34
Ajax 34
Vitesse 30
GRONINGEN 29
Willem II 28
NEC 28
Excelsior 26
De Graafschap 26
AZ 23
Roda 21
Heerenveen 20
Zwolle 19
RKC 17
NAC Breda 16
----Playoff Zone-----
Utrecht 16
Twente 16
---PlayoffZone----
--Relegation--
RBC 13

[SirFozzie]

A bunch of big money transfers kick off the second transfer window:

Player From To Fee (in millions)
Kily Gonzalez Valencia Depotivo 14.25
Emile Mpenza Schalke 04 Tottenham 12
Stephane Henchoz Liverpool Real Madrid 11.25
Theo Lucius PSV Werder Bremen 10.25
Eduardo Courdet River Plate Werder Bremen 10
Ivan Alonso Alaves Osasuna 8.25+ Carlos Roca


For our part, we only bring two players in, the aforementioned Bradley Carnell (from VFB Stuttgart, 750K Euros) and Azeri international Gurban Gurbanov for 150K from Ukranian side Volgar.

We finish third in the inaugural Gronigen Cup, as we lose to Heerenveen 1-0, and beat our reserves 4-0 (Heerenveen beats Veendam 2-1 to lift the trophy.

But it's back to league play, so let's get back to it!

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by SirFozzie
Groningen 2-0 Utrecht (Salmon 62, Marquinho 65) Att:12,728

Thanks, Sir...
Utreg is battling against relegation after being knocked out by Bordeaux, can't you let them win?
Things look good though for Groningen. Just 7 points behind 'pole position'.

The "championship of the north" is going to be yours with Heerenveen 9 points trailing.

[SirFozzie]

it gets worse.. and better.. and worse.. and oh forget it.. read for yourself

(my internet browser's crashed twice while trying to post this, so I'm going to just C&P the results)

We come back from the winter break, and go downhill very quickly. We get 1 point (and just one goal) in our next four games, losing three straight on the road to NAC Breda (2-0), Roda (2-1), and Ajax (3-0).. The last two were not Beukenkamp's fault, as he was injured, and 16 year old Mike Romer played, much to the displeasure of Darwinkel.

We manage to pull it back together, grabbing a scoreless draw with Heerenveen at the Oosterpark, before beating Excelsior 2-1, drawing with AZ 0-0, then it all falls out bad, as Zwolle kick us around 3-1, and it wasn't as close as the scoreline would indicate.

Just when the season looks to be going off kilter, we win our next two after shifting to a 3-5-2 attack, beating RBC at home 3-1, and Willem II on the road 1-0.

With a possible InterToto or UEFA Cup spot up for grabs, here's the standings, with 8 games left to play.

Feyenoord 54
Ajax 52
PSV 52
NEC 45
Vitesse 43
Excelsior 42
Willem II 40
GRONINGEN 40
Heerenveen 34
AZ 33
Twente 33
Roda 31
De Graafschap 31
NAC Breda 29
RKC 29
---Playoff---
Zwolle 26
Utrecht 26
---Drop---
RBC 22

[SirFozzie]

(while I'm waiting for the medicine to kick in ( I HATE BEING SICK!!) Here's the rest of the season)

As things stand, 8th place would be a Intertoto spot, but we're hoping to be sixth, that would be a UEFA cup spot according to the UEFA coefficients: But it wouldn't be easy.

We lose 2-0 at home to PSV, but make RKC pay the price, defeating them 4-1, thanks to a rare pair of goals from Hoogstrate, and pull out a late point against NEC, 1-1 when Salmon scores in the 87th minute.

We see off De Graafschap and Twente by 2-0 scores each, and come back from two goals down to scrape a point at Utrecht 2-2. Feyenoord blasts us 4-0, but we return the favor to NAC Breda, 4-0, meaning we finish 7th, so if the coefficients hold, we SHOULD be in Europe next year.

Since Romer will not be ready for full time play for a couple more years, and our goalkeeping is quite ancient, Beukenkamp playing his heart out, while Darwinkel just played like he had his heart torn out, we sign young international (20 years old, 4 caps for Nigeria) Vincent Enyeama from Nigerina side Enyimba on a Bosman.

The final league table as we head into the promotion/relegation playoffs:

PSV -- 76 (Champions
Feyenoord 70
Excelsior 63
Ajax 59 (including the late season resignation of Ronald Koeman)
NEC 58
Willem II
GRONINGEN 54
Vitesse 53
AZ 49
Heerenveen 41
Roda 41
RKC 41
Twente 39
NAC Breda 38
Utrecht 37 (-16 GD)
--- Playoff/Out zone---
De Graafschap 37
Zwolle 32
---Relegation---
RBC 28


We bid farewell to the following players, as their contracts will expire as of July 1.

Claus Boekweg (Age 35)(3,500 (E) p/w)

Dejan Curivic (Age 34)(Avg Rating 7.27, 5 goals in 15 (3) appearances, 12,500 (E) p/w)

Bjorn Schilder (Age 24) (Avg Rating 6.72 in 1(10) appearances on loan at Veendam, 3,100 (E) p/w)

Egbert Darwinkel (Age 37) (Avg Rating 6.33, 7 goals conceded in 3 games, 1,600 (E) p/w)

Raymond Bronkhorst (age 24) (2,500 (E) p/w)

My former side, the Under 18's finish 3rd in the under 18's, behind Cambuur and Harlem, while the reserves look to have won the reserve division.

[SirFozzie]

A quick wrap up of the post league travails:

PSV wins the Dutch cup, after beating Willem II 2-1 with a golden goal, internationally Chelsea takes the UEFA Cup after drawing Valencia 1-1, and Juventus's luck at Old Trafford is no better in this game then it was in real life, as they lose the Champions League Final 1-0 to Inter Milan.

We will have three new teams in the Eredivisie next year, as both Zwolle and De Graafschap finish last in their playoff pool and are therefore relegated down to the first divsion. Replacing them will be pool winners: Helmond and Dordrecht, as well as First Division winners Heracles

Here's a quick run down of the Top league winners around Europe:

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Juventus

UEFA CUP: Chelsea

England: Manchester United (8 pts, over Everton)
France: Marseille (1 pt over Ayxerre)
Germany: Bayern Munich (1 pt over Dortmund)
Holland: PSV Eindhoven (6 pts over Feyenoord)
Italy: Inter Milan (10(!!!) Points over Roma
Portugal: Benfica (13(!!!!) points over Boavista)
Scotland: Rangers (5 Pts over Celtic)
Spain: Valencia (2 Points over Deportivo La Coruna)

We manage to cut Gurbanov's pay slightly, as he has now become a UEFA certified and qualified coach, and he signs on as a player coach.

[SirFozzie]

We manage to bring back Marquinho for another year, which makes me happy, he really made some great plays, and we have him for half pay (3,300 Euros instead of the full 6,500 we were paying last year, which with our finances being strained is a GOOD thing).

We get 1.5 Million Euros in TV money, which definitely helps, especially since 14 players are promoted into the under 18's! I wish I had that many kids a year when I was coaching them! We have a transfer budget this year of 275K Euros.

The board, thinking I can walk on water at this point (expecting the drop, to finish mid table), want us to repeat the feat. Much to my delight, we did qualify for Europe through the backdoor, and will take on the English side Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the InterToto Cup. The first leg being at the Ewood Park, so we have the 2nd leg at home.

[SirFozzie]

Our stay in Europe is unfortunately short lived, but interesting, as we lose 2-0 at Blackburn, despite, Blackburn Rover player Alan Mahon being sent off in the 77th minute, and in the return leg, Blackburn AGAIN has a player sent off as Nils-Eric Johansson walks for a two footed challenge in the 17th minute, but they successfully circle the wagons and manage to keep the game at a scoreless drea. But, we'll be back.

The games were a good warmup for the team, but with the season less then a month away, we only have room for one friendly against our newly promoted under 18's, as we have been drawn against ACV (Home), Cambuur (Away) and Veendam (Away) in Dutch Cup Group A.

Our season looks to get off to a horror start however, as here's our first three games

Away Feyenoord
Home PSV
Away Ajax

Nothing like getting it out of the way early, eh?

[SirFozzie]

Well, it's old friends/whipping boys ACV, and they must hate us, as last year, we whooped em 6-0. This year, we take it easy on them, and only whoop them 5-0, Drent scoring 4, Salmon the fifth, and quite frankly, the game could have been double digits.

With the top two teams advancing to the knockout stage, all we need to do is split our remaining to Dutch Cup Group games.

Odds are out, and as expected, we're not expected to challenge at all for honours, PSV are favorites at 5-4, Feyenoord 6-4, Ajax 7-4, and in the Dark Horse category, NEC and Vitesse 33-1, Heerenveen 40-1, and we are 80-1. They believe that a high mid-table position is fairly realistic, but that might be the best we have on offer.

As pretty much expected, we beat Cambuur 2-1, so we are through to the next round, and will be able to put a 2nd team in for our final Cup match. But it's time to start the Eredivisie!

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by SirFozzie
Away Feyenoord
Home PSV
Away Ajax

One could call this a bug, this would never happen IRL.

Excelsior 3rd?

Well done, 7th isn't that bad at all!

Sir, the UEFA cocients are always deciding tickets for 2 seasons away in stead of the next season.
The period 1997/1998 - 2001/2002 decided tickets for the 2003/2004 season rahter then the excepted 2002/2003 season.

[Katon]

Originally posted by MIJB#19
One could call this a bug, this would never happen IRL.

Well, you know the Dutch league better than I do, but this year Chelsea's first three home games were against Man United, Arsenal, and Newcastle, who are the closest English equivalents.

[SirFozzie]

You know.. I thought this new version of CM had Crashguard, but it refuses to load the save game, so I'm out on a limb here

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by Katon
Well, you know the Dutch league better than I do, but this year Chelsea's first three home games were against Man United, Arsenal, and Newcastle, who are the closest English equivalents.

Well, the English league is far more competitive and has other teams like Liverpool, Aston Villa, Chelsea itself, Tottenham...

The Dutch league is very simple:
It's basically 3 NY Yankees teams (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) against 15 Cincy Bungles teams. FC Groningen is just one of those Bungles teams...
There were some teams trying to become competitive, like Vitesse and FC Utrecht, but both teams are facing bankrupcy now, just like 90% of the other professional soccer teams here (except the rich and famous from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Eindhoven.)

Originally posted by SirFozzie
You know.. I thought this new version of CM had Crashguard, but it refuses to load the save game, so I'm out on a limb here

Ah shoot, that would be a loss...

[SirFozzie]

To add on to what MIJB said:

Basically in Holland, it is so controlled by the big three, it actually might be just as bad as it is in Scotland with the Old Firm over everybody. AJAX, PSV and FEYENOORD will likely be in the top three spots in whatever order, year after year after year.

The situation was so bad they were talking with the Old Firm and some other Big Fishes in Small Ponds about forming an Atlantic League, before UEFA said "You really don't want to do that"

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by SirFozzie
To add on to what MIJB said:

Basically in Holland, it is so controlled by the big three, it actually might be just as bad as it is in Scotland with the Old Firm over everybody. AJAX, PSV and FEYENOORD will likely be in the top three spots in whatever order, year after year after year.

The situation was so bad they were talking with the Old Firm and some other Big Fishes in Small Ponds about forming an Atlantic League, before UEFA said "You really don't want to do that"

The others being the Portugese "old firm" FC Porto, Benfica, Sporting, Belgian giants Anderlecht and Club Brugge, and Norwegian 9-in-a-row champs Rosenborg BK.

[MIJB#19]

Just to dola a bit, last season (2002/2003)
PSV won with 84 points, followed by Ajax (83), Feyenoord (80) and NAC Breda (51).

That is a 30 point gap!