In advance, it will be a special last round in the First Division on Friday evening. There is still one place left to participate in the play-offs for promotion to the Eredivisie. And that place goes to FC Den Bosch or Vitesse. Bizarrely, the people of Den Bosch are doing well to lose, while Vitesse – from Arnhem – mainly looks at the achievements of another Brabant club.
The score in the battle for the fourth and final period title of this season will determine whether FC Den Bosch will compete in the play-offs for promotion to the Eredivisie from Wednesday onwards.
Vitesse is currently third in the last and fourth period, behind Willem II and ADO. The Arnhem team must pass one of those two clubs to secure their ticket for the play-offs. ADO plays on Friday evening in De Vliert against FC Den Bosch, which benefits from losing, because then ADO stays ahead of Vitesse.
“Suppose Vitesse is 3-0 ahead… of course they will lose.”
“Den Bosch is going to see what Vitesse is doing on the other field. I can just see it happening that Vitesse is 2-0 behind Cambuur at half-time and that Den Bosch will simply start playing football again,” predicts sports reporter David Kramer from Omroep Brabant. “I know that the players of FC Den Bosch find it annoying not to go to the extreme, but they just want to get into those play-offs.”
If Vitesse is ahead against Cambuur, Kramer knows what will happen in Den Bosch: “Those players are not crazy. They all say ‘we are going for the win’. But suppose Vitesse is 3-0 ahead and Den Bosch has to lose… Of course they will lose.” According to Kramer, it is simply a very annoying situation: “The management of Den Bosch would prefer that Cambuur simply beat Vitesse.”
The Den Bosch supporters also hope for a defeat for their club, Kramer knows: “They agree that they have to lose. You can also read that on social media. The club song of FC Den Bosch contains a part of ‘winning and losing together’. Now I see on Instagram: ‘losing and losing together’.”
Competitor Vitesse must first beat Cambuur itself. The Arnhem team must then hope for other favorable results. “Strangely enough, they are less concerned with that match in Den Bosch, they watch the Willem II match more,” explains Vitesse watcher Jan Sommerdijk of Omroep Gelderland.
“Who knows if the Den Bosch goalkeeper will live up to his words.”
The Tilburg team plays away at FC Dordrecht and they are already certain of skipping the first round of the play-offs. For Willem II, only a win in the last period is at stake in Dordrecht, good for a premium of 75,000 euros. “Vitesse has placed more hope on losing points to Willem II, so that they can still reach the play-offs with a victory over Cambuur, at the expense of FC Den Bosch,” says Sommerdijk.
According to the Vitesse watcher, the Arnhem team does not believe in competition distortion. “I have not heard that term. But they do assume that Den Bosch loses,” says Sommerdijk.
“They first have to beat Cambuur themselves. Everything will have to go their way,” he continues. “Only then will they see whether it is enough to reach the play-offs. They themselves have the feeling that if they win, a miracle will happen somewhere else. Who knows, the Den Bosch goalkeeper will live up to his words and simply not let the ball through.”
