|
|
Hossam Ghaly's Feyenoord played their first derby game
this season as they faced Sparta Rotterdam this noon.
The game ended in a 1-3 victory for Feyenoord with Ghaly
scoring the third goal from a well placed header.
Ghaly celebtates after the goal
The only derby in the Dutch professional football is
the one between Sparta and Feyenoord; both teams are
from Rotterdam. They had to face each other at Het Kasteel
(9 kilometres from De Kuip) for the second match of
the season. Because of Schreuder's injury Hossam Ghaly
played along-side Pardo and Paauwe, completing Feyenoord's
midfield for the afternoon. The match was highly anticipated
by every football fan from Rotterdam, because the two
biggest clubs (Excelsior is the 3rd club, but play 1st
Division) hadn't faced each other for 3 years. Sparta
were relegated during the 2001/2002 season to the 1st
division, but clinched a promotion place last season
after the promotion/relegation play-offs were played.
The guys from West-Rotterdam started off furious against
the guys from South-Rotterdam; it was Sparta who had
complete control of the match early on in the game,
already producing a lot of chances. This was especially
the case with attacker Rachid Bouazouan who was a danger
for the Feyenoord defence, who had no control whatsoever
over the fast Sparta player. Feyenoord started the match
with four defenders, instead of the three they had last
week against NAC. It turned out to be nothing but a
bad choice from Erwin Koeman, who later on got back
to his defensive formation from last week.
In the 15th minute, Feyenoord got one of their rare
chances during the first half. Kuijt scored after a
pass from Snoijl, but was waved for being offside and
it stayed 0-0. Replays showed that it was clearly not
offside.
After 18 minutes it was Sparta who got in front, which
was completely deserved at this point in the match,
and it was Ricky van den Bergh who shot from 16 metres.
The ball was unstoppable for Feyenoord's veteran goalie
Patrick Lodewijks. 1-0 to the home team.
Feyenoord were nowhere, with Sparta being close to increasing
the one-goal gap to a two-goal gap. That was when Cvetkov
hit the woodwork after receiving a through pass from
one of his team-mates.
Koeman knew he had to do something, so he substituted;
Snoijl off, Vincken on, and what an important change
it proved to be. Last year's league and club top-scorer
Dirk Kuijt showed he is on his way to outgrowing the
Dutch League, when he netted his second of the season
in the 44th minute.
Feyenoord started off fresh in the second half, playing
better, getting chances that lead to the 1-2 goal from
Pardo in the 53rd minute. From just outside the box
he shoved the ball past Ponk on the right side of the
goal, and Feyenoord were ahead.
Ghaly celebrates after the 2nd goal...
|
|
|
|
The big brother from South-Rotterdam was just a size too good
during the second half, which gave Ghaly the opportunity to
get his second ever goal for Feyenoord after a header following
a corner by Pardo. Ghaly has superb heading qualities and
didn't let this chance go by. He rose well and placed the
header, taking advantage of the poor marking.
Ghaly jumps up to head his 2nd official goal
for Feyenoord...
And celebrates team-mates...
Dirk Kuijt could have scored his second of the day, but in
the 60th minute he shot the ball too slow, which made it a
simple catch for Ponk.
10 minutes later it was almost 1-4 when Kalou was served a
good opportunity by Kuijt, but Ponk punched the ball out of
the goal. Kalou kept on showing his great talent a couple
of minutes later, but just lacked the last touch to get Feyenoord's
fourth.
The rest of the match didn't have any great chances from either
of the two squads, but did have an injured player; Tim Vincken.
The Feyenoord youngster had just recovered from an injury
in his upper leg, in the 75th minute he grabbed his leg and
the same injury appeared to cause the pain.
The match ended in a 1-3 win, which could have gone very different,
had the opposing Bulgarian striker scored instead of hit the
woodwork during the first half. The first half was for Sparta,
the second was for the dominant Feyenoord from the South.
After summing it all up, you could conclude that Feyenoord
still have a lot to work to do, before next Sunday's "Klassieker"
against Ajax in Amsterdam.
Ghaly did play fine, although his first half was bad, the
second half was good, and was indeed flourished by his goal.
EP Ratings:
Lodewijks 7, Ostlund 60, Greene 8, Bahia 6, Snoyl 5, (40'
Vincken ? / 75' Bosschaart ?), Ghaly 7, Paauwe 6, Pardo 7,
Boussaboun 6, Kuyt 7, Kalou 7.
Match Details:
Half time score: (1-1) Final score: Sparta 1-3 Feyenoord
20' 1-0 Van den Bergh
45' 1-1 Kuyt
53' 1-2 Pardo
57' 1-3 Ghaly
Cards:
Yellow Sparta: De Fauw, Michels
Yellow Feyenoord: Paauwe, Pardo, Ghaly
Red: None
Attendance: 11,000 at Sparta-Stadion
Referee: Vink
Keep tuned at EgyptianPlayers.com for Ghaly and Ekramy news
ahead of the big game at Ajax...
|
|
