Dutch Football - UEFA Cup - NEC don't want to dig in at Spartak Moscow

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

NEC don't want to dig in at Spartak Moscow

Wednesday 03 December 2008

NEC Nijmegen need three points from their away game at Spartak Moscow to keep their prospects of the next round in the UEFA Cup alive.

So the team of Mario Been has no intentions of digging in the impressive Luzhniki Stadium.

Been will field three forwards tonight with creative midfielder Lasse Schöne close behind them.

Just like he did in the first group game against Dynamo Zagreb Been opts for three 'runners' up front, meaning that Jhonny van Beukering will start on the bench.

"When I let Jhon run for 90 minutes on the artificial turf over there I will kill him," Been explains his choice.

NEC have zero points after two games where Moscow, managed by former Ajax player Michael Laudrup, can qualify if they win tonight.

"I think they are a very strong side," Been said.

"In the Eredivisie they would easily be in the top six. As we are sixth in the Eredivisie at the moment so it could be an exciting game."

The Moscow side finished eighth in the Russian league that has just ended.

Been will have to do without Patrick Pothuizen, Arek Radomski and Saidi Ntibazonkiza tonight.

Collins John did travel along to Moscow

Presumable lineup:
Babos; Fernandez, Wisgerhof, Zomer, El Akchaoui, Sibum, Schöne, Davids, El Kabir, Tshibamba, Bouaouzan