FC Emmen blames itself against amateurs of Excelsior Maassluis

Tuesday, December 14, 2021 at 9:50 PM• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 22:13

FC Emmen was eliminated on Tuesday evening in the battle for the TOTO KNVB Cup. The team of trainer Dick Lukkien was no match for the amateurs of Excelsior Maassluis, who triumphed 0-1. The victory of the second divisionist came late. Ten minutes before the end, substitute Bram Wennekers knocked the ball past the outgoing Indy Groothuizen. It turned out to be the only goal of the game. It is the sixth time that Emmen has been eliminated from the cup tournament by an amateur club.

After Emmen was surprisingly too strong for FC Volendam (0-3) in the first round by a hit from Rui Mendes and Jasin Assehoun, it went completely wrong for Lukkien’s team this time. In the run-up to the game, the coach already revealed that he would make quite a few changes to his team, as he was unable to include Peet Bijen, Lentini Caciano, Jeroen Veldmate, Keziah Veendorp and Peter van Ooijen. There was also a basic place for Groothuizen, who took the place of Michael Brouwer between the posts.

Emmen was the dominant party in the first half and scored the first chance of the game via Reda Kharchouch, but the attacker’s effort on a pass from Lucas Bernadou could easily be picked up. On the other hand, the visitors claimed a penalty after fifteen minutes of play, when Daan Blij went to the ground after a push from Zakaria El Azzouzi. Referee Robin Vereijken waved it off. Not much later, the same Blij was dangerous with a shot into the short corner.

In the second company the game image hardly changed and Emmen scored the best chances. Assehoun shot into the hands of goalkeeper Jean-Paul van Leeuwen and Jeredy Hilterman headed wide. El Azzouzi was also inaccurate in the rounding and saw his effort go wide. While the game then seemed to be heading for an extension, the visitors still pulled the longest in the final phase. A long ball from Nino van den Beemt was appreciated by Bram Wennekers, who worked the leather past the coming Groothuizen: 0-1.