Last week I was lucky enough to have a business trip take me to the Netherlands. While there I got to see Willem II play Málaga in an Intertoto Cup match. Málaga had won the first game at home 2-1. Unfortunately, Willem II lost their home leg 1-0, so Málaga moved on to face Villareal, another Spanish team. After taking the away leg against Villareal, Málaga is close to clinching a spot in the UEFA Cup.
The attendance was about 7,000 at the 15,000 seat stadium in Tilburg. The crowd was a bit smaller and definitely quieter than I am used to experiencing at San Jose Earthquakes games back in the States.
Through a ticket agent screw-up, the tickets purchased by one of the guys at the company I was visiting ended up being in the kid’s section (Section K). No need to fear Dutch hooligans. The worst I might have received would have been a kick to the shin or a coke spilled on my pants. One nice advantage of the kid’s section was the fact that it was a no smoking section.
The first half was exceedingly dull. My Dutch hosts apologized for the level of play and assured me that not all Dutch and Spanish football was this bad. Málaga tried to waste time from the opening kick-off and Willem struggled to put together more than three passes in a row. The Earthquakes would have absolutely crushed either of the two teams based on their play in the first half.
The second half was much better, with a very entertaining combination of soccer, basketball, American football, and wrestling. Willem II started the second half playing much, much better. They had quite a few good opportunities and put a lot of pressure on the Málaga back-line.
The fun really started when a Málaga player kicked the ball back to his goalie. The goalie was only a couple feet off his line and he had to chest the ball out, since the goalie can’t use his hands on a backpass. As a Willem player moved in, the Málaga goalie grabbed the ball out of the air with his hands. The referee immediately blew his whistle to signal an indirect free kick in the box. The goalie then took off running with the ball, presumably to kill more time. A Willem player made a beautiful open field tackle from behind on the goalie.
Wait a second, this isn’t American football. Lots of other players moved in and the goalie quickly received a swift, but soft, kick to the head. More histrionics ensued and it took about five minutes for the referee to finally line up the free kick. As usual on such opportunities, the free kick was not converted to a goal. It’s a pretty tough shot from that close in with the defensive wall only about two meters away.
A little later, a ball was played in deep to a Willem forward. As the ball was over his head, he attempted to very subtly reach up with his arm and bring the ball down in an Alley Oop dunk maneuver. Just a bit too obvious.
Willem II Tilburg rules