In a play-off denouement with two red cards, eight goals and eighteen penalties, keeper Stijn van Gassel from Ysselsteyn has turned out to be the hero of Excelsior Rotterdam.
The goalie saved two penalty kicks in the game against ADO Den Haag on Sunday evening and thus played a large part in Excelsior’s promotion to the Eredivisie. Earlier this week Excelsior and ADO played a 1-1 draw in Rotterdam and the two teams also kept each other in balance for a very long time on Sunday evening.
Three goals behind
The 25-year-old Van Gassel kept a nice game, but seemed to be able to put promotion out of his mind after 47 minutes of football: via a header from ex-MVV player Verheydt and shots from Felipe Pires and Sem Steijn it was already 3-0. 0 for ADO. Excelsior, which previously settled with Roda JC in the play-offs, had failed to open the score itself when top scorer Thijs Dallinga missed a penalty.
Unprecedented comeback
Still, after a few good saves from Van Gassel, the Rotterdam team managed to conjure up an unprecedented comeback. ADO, which was left with ten men for Tyrese Asante due to red, saw Marouan Azarkan work in the 3-1 in the 78th minute and Reuven Niemeijer in the 83rd minute for 3-2. While the ADO supporters are already ready for the field storm, Dallinga also nodded the 3-3 against the ropes in the 93rd minute and Excelsior forced an extension.
extension
The cake was not finished in that extension. Excelsior, which had also been decimated for Michael Chacón after red, was put on display by ADO substitute Sacha Komljenovic when he pushed the 4-3 past Van Gassel. Excelsior cracked again, but again it didn’t burst: from a corner, Redouan el Yaakoubi boiled in the 4-4 in the 108th minute. And so a penalty shootout proved inevitable.
Two saves from Van Gassel
Both teams cashed in their first two knockouts, after which Raphaël Eyongo shot the third Excelsior penalty wide. Van Gassel corrected his teammate’s miss by stopping Dhoraso Moreo Klas’s effort immediately afterwards, via the post. After that, a lot of penalty kicks were hit, until Van Gassel kept Jamal Amofa from scoring in the ninth ADO penalty. With that, after eighteen penalties and a heroic role for the Limburger, promotion for Excelsior was a fact.
Eredivisie debut
Excelsior had finished sixth in the Kitchen Champion Division. ADO started the play-offs as number four in the competition. For Van Gassel, who has a contract with Excelsior that runs until 2023, the upcoming year will be his first season in the Eredivisie. Before his switch to Excelsior, a year ago, he played 157 KKD matches for Helmond Sport.
No European football for Houwen
Earlier in the day, another Limburg goalie, Jeroen Houwen from Oirlo, grabbed Vitesse next to European football. The keeper was under the bar for 90 minutes and received a load of goals: AZ scored via Tijani Reijnders and Jesper Karlsson (both twice), Vangelis Pavlidis and Dani de Wit six times, against one Vitesse goal via Riechedly Bazoer. That 6-1 was enough for AZ, after a 2-1 defeat in Arnhem, to qualify for the preliminary rounds of the Conference League.