Heads down, droopy shoulders and even watery eyes here and there. The FC Emmen selection was through after the final whistle from referee Lindhout. That icicle on Antonisse’s post, if only that one…
,,Terrible”, says Jari Vlak, the maker of the only Emmen goal, shortly after the match on the field. “This is the worst thing you can experience as a footballer. I think we really gave it our all. All those moments of just missing: that ball on the post of Antonisse, that near-penalty kick. Then you still think: it is still possible, it will be called back by the VAR. It’s definitely not up to the public.”
Wet eyes
Goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart almost has tears in his eyes. ,,Exemplary that Antonisse’s ball hits the inside of the post. We’ve been on the wrong side too many times. We had to score that goal. This is really horrible to experience. Everyone gives everything. You are busy all year round with one goal: to keep FC Emmen in the Eredivisie. And if that fails, that’s a huge blow. That hurts a lot, which everyone has to deal with in their own way. Now it’s mostly disappointment and sadness.”
,,I am empty”, says captain Jeroen Veldmate. ,,You know that there will be a final judgment and if it turns out like this, it gives a very empty feeling. You just have to make that 1-0, you just have to score. If that ball from Antonisse goes in, then the stadium will support it, then we will believe in it more and they will believe less.”
‘Zivkovic was alone too often’
How is it possible that real opportunities did not materialize for a long time? Veldmate: ,,I think that our line-up was not good for the goal. Zivkovic was alone too often. We had one man left in midfield and we controlled the game for a long time. Of course we left it there. It’s not that we can’t beat them.”
Ole Romeny, who came out of the top hat as a kind of false striker behind Zivkovic as a tactical surprise from Lukkien, did not play his best game. ,,Of course you don’t want to end up like that”, says the Nijmegen native who will play for FC Utrecht next season. “Everyone was quiet in the locker room. You don’t want to experience this as a footballer. But it’s a pity, there’s nothing you can do about it now.”
Romeny: I made a schwalbe
Romeny admits that the penalty kick that Lindhout threatened to award shortly before time was rightly recalled by the VAR. ,,Of course you try everything to force that second goal.” In the first half the ball should have hit the spot, says the attacker. ,,But then Lindhout should also have given Jacobs the second yellow card. And apparently he didn’t dare. No, it wasn’t all that. Look at that ball from Antonisse.”
It was a brilliant bang that deserved a better fate. Jeremy Antonisse lashed out devastatingly in the closing stages of the first half, but saw the post vibrate. And that was by no means a coincidence. ,,No, I shot a ball like that on the post countless times when I was still playing for PSV”, says the left winger with an almost apologetic look. ,,I do not know what it is. So idiotic, but every time that ball hits the post.”