Takbir, Arjan, Rogier, Gijs (45 Eric), Erik (35 Rene), Jacco, Philip (65 Jasper), Winfried, Stephan (45 Frank, Daniel (45 Mounir), Ard,

With relatively pleasant weather conditions the Hollandse FC were lined up well for the confrontation against their favorite opponents, the German All Stars. The inexplicable 3-2-2-1-2 system was traded for a good-old 4-4-2 line-up and within 10 minutes the Dutch were leading the game. Philip’s strong perseverance at the goal line resulted in a not-to-be-missed opportunity for Ard: 1-0. After a splendid passing from Daniel, Ard got a similar not to-be-missed opportunity 5 minutes later, but he managed to botch up this one miserably.

The Germans, overwhelmed at first, refound themselves and engaged in some counterattacks. Halfway the first half one of these attacks was rightfully awarded a penalty kick after Erik had to pull the emergency brake in the goalbox: 1-1. The penalty opened up a period in which GAS dominated the game and scored the 1-2 and 1-3. Just before the tea break Erik badly twisted his knee and was replaced by Rene.

The entrance of substitutes Mounir and Frank provoked a blitz start of the second half. Frank sent the entire German defense into the woods and converted the 2-3 in a Romario-type of style. The next 20 minutes were for the Dutch and various well-prepared attacks resulted in different goal chances. The deserved equalizer did however not come, but instead GAS scored 2-4. Still the Hollandse FC did not give up. Philip who during the game had to put all his energy in defense, was awarded for this labor and scored 3-4 following a scrimmage at the goal line.

Next, the Hollandse pulled out all the stops in a hunt for the 4-4. Fierce battles were fight across the pitch whereby further valuable evidence was gathered on the hypothesis that forces of gravity  sometimes have an unexplainable tendency to pull stronger on German mass (although of course we have to admit that the same applies to our own Arjan Robben from Bayern Munich).

Whereas 4-4 would have been probably been a fair reflection of both teams’ strength during this particular day, it was GAS who ultimately pulled the trigger and clinically scored the 3-5.

All together the Hollandse played a good game, and demonstrated again that they are growing in terms of quality. fitness and bench strength. Congratulations to GAS for an – as always - manly yet fair game and we are looking forward to the  next game. Thanks also to Jacco who is relocating to Switserland and has been a rock-solid player for the Hollandse FC for the last 2 years. Finally, all the best to Erik, who, it turns out, has torn his cruciate ligament as well as his meniscus. He is likely to undergo surgery and will be away for at least 9 months.