Twente fail to get a point

Friday 07 November 2008

It's not a disgrace to lose against the richest club in the world, but still FC Twente will look back on their match against Manchester City with a hangover after their 3-2 defeat.

In the last minute of the game Steyn Huysegems could have scored the equalizer but the Belgian hoofed the ball over the goal.

On the sideline his coach Steve McClaren fell to the ground in agony as he would have loved to take a point from his home soil, even when City could have decided the game early on.

Comparing the budgets of the two clubs it seemed only natural that Twente lost to Manchester City.

The team from Enschede may have increased their annual budget to 29.5 million euro for sheik Mansour Bin Zayed from Abu Dhabi that is peanuts as he and his eighteen brothers are good for more than a billion euro.

He spent more than the entire Twente budget (42 million) on Robinho and splashed out another 23 million on fellow Brazilian Jo.

FC Twente were nervous in the opening minutes of the game and conceded an early goal when Shaun Wright-Philips set up a lovely combination that he finished himself: 1-0:

But after some fifteen minutes Twente were able to get from under the English pressure and create something for themselves.

Eljero Elia beat Micah Richards in a long rush and put a well placed shot past City keeper Joe Hart: 1-1.

After that goal Twente were city's equals for a long period but early in the second half they again didn't have an answer to the English forward moves.

In the 57th minute Robinho painted a ball into the top corner (2-1) and five minutes later substitute Benjani made it 3-1 after a deflection.

FC Twente seemed knocked-out but showed some mental resilience.

It brought them back within one goal when Robbie Wielaert made it 3-2 from a Hersi corner.

Steyn Huysegems then had two big chances to equalize but it wasn't to be.

The defeat is not a disaster as Twente have three points from their first match against Santander and need three more to qualify for the next round.

Still Steve McClaren was disappointed with the result and the naive way his team defended at times.

"Yes it's very disappointing. I felt we could get something here," the former England manager said.

"At times we're a bit naiv in the way we defend and that's how we gave the dangerous City forwards too many chances. After the early goal I was afraid it was going to be a long night.

"But because we kept playing football we were able to create some good chances. I think this is a missed chance."