The Dutch futsal players from Serbia had never won before. Of the ten previous encounters, the Orange lost eight, only two draws were made. But things also went wrong in the eleventh mutual meeting, as a result of which Ukraine goes to the quarterfinals with group winner Portugal. With Portugal’s victory over Ukraine, a draw by the Netherlands against Serbia, which has already been played out, would have been enough for a place in the last eight.
El Ghannoutic
Orange had quickly shaken off their nerves, despite the great importance of the game. After a few Serbian pinpricks, Jamal El Ghannouti, the tireless 38-year-old record international of the Orange, fired on the goal of the Balkan team for the first time. Goalkeeper Nmanja Momcilovic was warned.
But apparently not enough. Because half a minute later the flop was in his goal.
Points player Jordany Martinus did not seem to control the ball well from a pass by El Ghannouti, but then squeezed his strength past his Serbian jailer. To tap the ball with the outside right through the ‘sticks’ of goalkeeper Momcilovic a fraction later: 1-0.
Arousal
The next chance was again for the Netherlands, but a promising point by Karim Mossaoui was blocked just in time by Stefan Rakic. Not much later, the guests got their best chance of the first half, after the Orange organization was just as far away. With a fabulous save, Manuel Kuijk proved why he is one of the best goalkeepers of the European Championship.
Serbia insisted, smelled the equalizer, but attempts by Slobodan Rajcevic and Strahinja Petrov could not embarrass Kuijk. In the eleventh minute there was again excitement in the tent. Kuijk was alert to a shot from captain Marko Prsic, after a quick kick-in. In the counterpunch, Mossaoui should have done more with his free shot chance.
Ceyar back
With halftime approaching, Max Tjaden’s team should have doubled their lead, but Tevfik Ceyar shot a custom cross from Mo Attaibi wildly wide. It was a special match for Ceyar: the winger should have watched the first two group matches in quarantine after a positive corona test. In the last seconds of the first half, Kuijk prevented Dragan Tomic from scoring with an extended left leg.
Where one number seven (Tomic) did not score, another number seven did find the goal. The second half was barely three minutes away when Yoshua St. Juste hit the target via Rakic (what’s in a name): 2-0. A minute later, Lahcen Bouyouzan had the 3-0 on his shoe, but instead of getting a few more yards, he shot wide from wide.
nerves
What makes futsal so beautiful: you can really score from scratch. Unfortunately for the Orange, Slobodan Rajcevic shot a volley out of nowhere through Kuijk’s legs: 2-1. That was an ugly setback for Tjaden’s men, who were probably already counting on the empire. The nerves slowly crept into the heads of the Orange players, especially after Serbia hit the post from an eye-watering attack. Kuijk and his defense swung.
After a barrage of Serbian shots, Mossaoui went wrong in his own half. Kuijk was no match for three whitemen: 2-2. That equalizer came as a sledgehammer, because less than thirty seconds later Andreja Stojcevski was the end station of a fruitful Serbian tiki taka attack: 2-3.
Drama
Max Tjaden had to regroup his men. It worked. The home country received a helping hand from Rajcevic, who knocked Bouzambou over and caused a penalty. Said Bouzambou then called for disaster by taking his place behind the ball. He did, however, send the keeper into the wrong corner, only to shoot the ball to the left. The Orange squad never recovered from that drama, although the team was almost accurate in the final seconds with an extra field player for goalkeeper Kuijk.
The elimination came hard in Camp of Orange. After the game, captain Oualid Saadouni announced that he would hang up his kicks, while coach Tjaden spoke to the press with tears in his eyes.