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NEC want to see the real Ronaldinho
Thursday 18 December 2008
There was no need for a pep talk
for coach Mario Been ahead of tonight's UEFA Cup clash
with Udinese.
But still he thought it wise to
point out to his players just what they will be playing
for tonight.
"Do you want to see Ronaldinho
from up close in the next round or do you want to stick
pictures for the rest of your careers?" the coach
asked his players.
That's how fast it can go in football.
Mario Been briefly referred to
it during one of the busiest press conferences ever
in Nijmegen.
Precisely one year ago NEC were
at the bottom of the table and their only goal was to
avoid relegation.
Tonight NEC are playing for a place
in the third round of the UEFA Cup and a chance to still
be in Europe after Christmas; something the club has
never managed before.
To achieve that NEC will have to
get a better result than CSKA Moscow do at the same
time in London against Tottenham Hotspur.
The whole town of Nijmegen has
been looking forward to this historic game for two weeks
now.
And the players now what is at
stake.
"Reaching the UEFA Cup was
a major achievement for us," says skipper Peter
Wisgerhof, who has been at the club the longest of all
current players.
"But to now have a chance
to come out of the group stages is truly a highlight.
For Nijmegen this is great."
These days everyone and everything
in the city is red, green and black.
Wherever the players show their
face they are asked about the game against Udinese and
the UEFA Cup.
"This of course hardly ever
happens," Wisgerhof says.
"To give you an example. We
usually get very excited when there is a camera at the
training ground. Today there were four."
NEC is hot, management find out
daily now.
Thanks to the good results and
the refreshing way the team plays the old image of dull
NEC is a thing of the past.
"But it hasn't surprised me
that we got this far," says Lasse Schöne one
of the most exciting players on the team.
"People on the outside perhaps
were, but I have known a long time that we have a lot
of quality in the team. Tottenham are perhaps a bit
ahead of us, but before that against Dynamo Bucharest
and Zagreb we were at least equal and perhaps even better."
For Udinese nothing is at stake
tonight.
The Italians are already qualified
and will probably be thinking about their next league
game as they travel to AC Milan on Sunday.
It only enhances the chances of
NEC.
"To finish top of the group
they need one point," says Been.
"I can not say whether they
will take the game seriously. But if I were them I would.
We want to win. We will play our own game but have to
be aware of their counters. When we loss the ball they'll
be gone in no time. That is why we have to keep a clean
sheet and don't put too many players before the ball."
For coach Mario Been tonight's
game will be a highlight in his career.
But while expectations rise the
coach keeps a cool head.
"We are not going to do silly
things all of a sudden. I asked them a while ago whether
they wanted to in a training camp before this game.
They did not think that was necessary. So fine, we'll
just do things as we always do."
NEC lineup: Babos; Dani, Wisgerhof,
Zomer, El-Akchaoui; Sibum, Schöne, Davids; Saidi,
Van Beukering, Bouaouzan.
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