Historic CL adventure Hovocubo: “Putting ourselves further on the map”

Main round

The adventure for Hovocubo started in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dinamo Plus from Moldova, the Finnish Kampuksen Dynamo and the home team Mostar were the opponents. Only the group winner qualified for the last sixteen. “We approached it like a final a day. If you then win that first ‘final’, that gives confidence,” says Van Dijk about the 5-0 win on Dinamo Plus.

Hovocubo played against Kampuksen Dynamo equal (2-2). “What a lot of people may not know is that they are all full professionals. They have seven or eight internationals. They prevented Belgium from playing the European Championship and the last exhibition game between the Netherlands and Belgium ended in 5-1 for the Belgians. I take on the strength of the Finns, who are making great strides to join the sub-top in Europe.”

On October 30, the club from Hoorn played the last group match against Mostar. “The mission was clear: we could take the step to the last sixteen. That had never happened before, so that gives a certain healthy tension. It was palpable and noticeable, but on the other hand I also felt a lot of confidence and an enormous will. .”

“Mostar played at home and felt empowered by the crowd. They would finish the job, they had that feeling. After eight minutes I took a time-out, because they started better. And then we scored two within a minute. times. With that we gave the opponent a beating”, the Hovocubo coach looks back.

Discharge and tears

After a 2-1 halftime score Hovocubo won in the final phase with 4-1. “I’ve looked back at those images a hundred times with tears in my eyes. It’s crazy to see that release again. It was really hectic there, in a good way. If you then win the group and write history, that gives a huge release. ” The party continued in the hotel, but according to Van Dijk, no crazy things happened.

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Elite round

At the end of November, Hovocubo traveled to Portugal for the last sixteen. The group had to be won again, but that was already a almost impossible task. After a 5-1 defeat against Yekaterinburg from Russia, top favorite and home playing Sporting Lisbon waited. Very soon, Hovocubo was behind 2-0. “The chance in advance was one in a hundred, but after a minute and a half it had become one in a thousand. We were disappointed in that ourselves.”

“At halftime I said: ‘Winning this match is not realistic, but I also don’t want us to watch with an abacus how we are dried off’. We then went back to basics and we did a fantastic job.” The damage was limited and the game ended after a 7-2 halftime score in 8-2 for the Portuguese.

“I think we have presented ourselves incredibly well. We have further put ourselves on the map. We also received a lot of compliments in the last sixteen. I am also still in contact with the Sporting Lisbon coach. He was incredibly surprised that we as amateurs could hold our own.”

Van Dijk is happy that his team has scored a goal in every game. “We have played and scored against FC Barcelona before, we scored against Inter Movistar and now also against Sporting Lisbon. I think that is also worth something.”

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League

In the Eredivisie, Hovocubo is in third place after twelve matches, while the first eight matches were all won. “We were just not fresh and fruity enough in the last phase. It is very close together. It will be very interesting because you get a lot more top matches in the second half of the season. And why would teams that have now finished sixth, seventh and eighth can’t provide a stunt? In my experience, the competition is only now starting,” says Van Dijk.

Hovocubo will start training again on January 5. The internationals then quickly report for the European Championship in their own country. That tournament will be played from January 19 to February 5. The competition continues in mid-February.