The Go Ahead Eagles write Dutch football history. When it comes to dramatic cup success, a German is also in the middle of it, who can cheer a historical title after a heart surgery.
When Julius Dirksen put his penalty in the goal on Monday evening, all the dams broke in the De Kuip of Rotterdam. Because at that moment it was clear: The Go Ahead Eagles from the Dutch city of Deventer won the Dutch trophy for the very first time in their club history – and at the same time the first title in 92 (!) Years.
The Eagles prevailed 5: 3 against the favorite AZ Alkmaar after a dramatic penalty shootout. Deventer’s goalkeeper Jari de Buser, who parried two penalty jets and gave it up jokingly after the game at ESPN : “I have never kept a penalty in my professional career after the game. It is so bizarre, I have no words for it. Boy dreams come true here.”
Jari de Busse became a hero in a penalty shootout
The Deventer team then celebrated the cup title in green bathrobes, a tradition of over 100 years in Dutch football.
German professional right in the middle of it
In the middle of it is also a German: defender Gerrit Nauber, who kept the attackers of Alkmaars in chess for 120 minutes and made space for the later title bringer Dirksen shortly before the penalty shootout. Nauber rated the success in conversation with the SID as “incredible, unique and sensational” in the morning after the final.
Since 2021, the 33-year-old has been playing for the Go Ahead Eagles, who had risen in the same year with today’s Schalke head coach Kees van Wonderen. Previously, Nauber earned his money in Sandhausen, Duisburg and at Sportfreunde Lotte.
First cardiac surgery, now cup winner
The title for the defender should also be particularly emotionally because he almost had to end his career last summer. Operation on the heart enabled the continuation of his career.
“At the end of the previous second half of the season, it was sometimes difficult for me and I already thought: I am getting old or what’s going on here? I wasn’t completely finished, but something was different,” he said in an interview with the kicker .
“Then I am a athletic trainer and we tried to work on the condition. In preparation for this season, cardiac arrhythmias were found at an EKG. I didn’t believe it at first. But it was clear that I had to be operated on if I wanted to continue playing professional football without any problems.”
On his way back after the operation, he saw “how players collapsed on the pitch, and even died. I would have been the next.”
Last title in 1933
For Nauber’s team, an almost long dry spell ended on Monday evening. The Eagles (the coat of arms symbol of the city of Deventer is an eagle; editor’s coat of arms symbol) last in 1933 when the club won its fourth Dutch championship after 1917, 1917, 1917, 1917, 1917, 1917, 1922 and 1930.
In the cup final against Alkmaar, too, it looked like the eagles had to continue to wait for a first title in over 90 years.
Troy Parrott had put the favorite in the lead by penalty (54.) – albeit only on the second attempt. The ire initially failed with a weakly kicked penalty on the Buser, which, however, had moved away from the goal line too early. In the repetition penalty, Parrott then remained cool and brought his team to the winning road.
Cup title ensures participation in the Europa League
In general, Alkmaar was the determining team in a opportunities (30:18 goal shots per AZ), which was only punished for his chance in the seventh minute of stoppage time: a flank of the Eagles clears of Alkmaars Peer Koopmeiners with his hand, which was also drawn by his opponent on the jersey.
Referee Danny Makkelie nevertheless decided on a penalty – and Mats Deijl saved the outsider into the extension.
Not much happened in this, the decision was made a little later in the penalty shootout. The Eagles remained freezing cold, all turned their penalty and celebrated their goalkeeper in large styles, who secured the current table seventh by the cup victory to participate in the Europa League.
“It’s great, really unprecedented. I am happy for the club, the players, for everyone. We will go down in the history books,” said Deijl Euphorically.
On Wednesday evening, the team will be celebrated by his fans in the 100,000-inhabitant city at a bus parade on the IJssel. The cup heroes have already had their first party night, as Nauber told SID .
The team celebrated “in a hall for bike races” in Rotterdam until three in the morning, but the 33-year-old knows: “The actual celebration is still coming.”