With their faces looking like thunder, the men of Oranje-Rood left Saturday night at ‘t Kopje. The 2-1 defeat in the crucial game against Bloemendaal visibly took its toll on the always ambitious team from Brabant. Captain Joep de Mol knew it all too well afterwards: there is no chance of playoff field hockey being played in Eindhoven this season.
It was a sad sight, in the glorious spring evening sun. Just after the final whistle in the topper against Bloemendaal, the OR men went off the field. One by one, one after the other, towards the clubhouse. A procession with few words and many angry looks. With shaking heads and drooping shoulders. The disillusionment of a lost season dripped off.
In the hallway of the clubhouse, Tobias Walter, Saturday’s backup goalkeeper, was already changing. In the middle of that changing session he joined his teammates in dressing room 5, which was Oranje-Rood’s private spot at Bloemendaal on Saturday. There, the door didn’t stay closed for long. Within two minutes, captain Joep de Mol was already walking out. He reported neatly for interviews with the press. ‘There wasn’t much to say in the dressing room either,’ sighed the defender.
Oranje-Rood balks on the bench after the defeat against Bloemendaal. Photo: Willem Vernes
The decisive moment, which was typical for the season of OR
Who did not think his team got off to a too cautious start. ‘We didn’t want to make a running game of it. Then you go off. We didn’t play a bad game at all, I don’t think. I think we really made it very difficult for Bloemendaal. They didn’t create any ass at all. The last quarter they were with eleven men in their own 23-meter area. They made it very compact, which made it difficult to play field hockey.’
Of course he was extremely disappointed by Bloemendaal’s 2-1, in the third quarter. The extremely clumsy moment when defender Sheldon Schouten passed the ball on the heel of midfielder Thijs Bams. The result: ball loss and a free shooting opportunity for Bloemendaal, which thus yielded the decisive goal. That flew in so easily, due to a stupid miscommunication at the back. Did we come up short again.’
Then the nail-biting conclusion. ‘It is typical of this season. Just barely.’
De Mol in discussion with the referee. Photo: Willem Vernes
The deluge of goals against
And what’s in it? ‘If I had known that…,’ sounds pensive. After a bit of thought, De Mol does come up with an interesting analysis. ‘Defensively we are not good enough at the moment. We now have fifty goals against in nineteen games. Then you can have as many playoff ambitions as you want. But with those numbers you’re not going to achieve that.’
He cites the enormous number of goals against himself. ‘Those numbers stand out, of course. No team in the top eight of the Tulip big league had to fish as often as Oranje-Rood. Only the four relegation candidates had more goals against. And that while the defense contains gigantic names. Three defenders of OR – De Mol, Tijmen Reyenga and Belgian Arthur de Sloover – are Olympic champions. ‘Defending is something we all do, of course,’ De Mol countered. ‘That fifty goals against is far too many. But that’s in all the lines, all over the field.’
A small miracle has to happen if Oranje-Rood wants to make the playoffs. The championship for which Bloemendaal qualified on Saturday. Amsterdam and Den Bosch presumably do so as well in the foreseeable future. Remains one spot. And that is for Kampong (34 points), Rotterdam (31 points) or Oranje-Rood (also 31). Important note: OR has played one more game than both its competitors.
Photo: Willem Vernes
‘Let’s hope Kampong drops points against Amsterdam tomorrow. Then our difference with them remains small. Winning three times is all we can do. If that happens and Kampong loses some more points, then we have a chance. The miracles are not over yet. But if you’re honest, we should have won today. We actually gave away that chance for the playoffs already. It’s just going to be a tough story for us.’
Blaak’s big shoes
And that tough story follows last year’s success story, when OR did finish in the top-four after many languishing years. So building on that achievement doesn’t seem to be working. ‘Of course, there have been some changes in our team. We lost Pirmin Blaak in goal. Those are big shoes to fill. Nieki Verbeek is doing very well, but has a little less internationals of course. Furthermore, our New Zealanders left, a new coach came in, so it was no longer the team of last year. I wasn’t under the illusion that we wouldn’t lose a game.’
‘But I did feel we were capable of more. I believed we could make the playoffs. Also had absolute confidence that we could win from Bloemendaal. I wasn’t that impressed with them at all. They were catchable. Then I still think now.’
by Hockey.nl
