First Football Cup for Dutch businesspeople
30 Sep 2009
Netherlands community in Moscow beats Russian alumni and students in thrilling football tournament.
The first Nuffic Neso NCM Football Tournament has been won by a team of Dutch businessmen and Dutch students living in Moscow. In a sensational final against Russian students the Dutch were more effective in finding the goal, and won with an impressive 3-1.
In total three games were played during the tournament that took place last weekend at the famous Olympic Luzhniky Complex in Moscow’s city centre. In the indoor football stadium Druzhba (meaning Friendship in Russian) two Russian teams - one of alumni and one of students - and two Dutch teams fought against each other to walk away with the Golden Nuffic Neso NCM Cup.
The Dutch players were all members of NCM, the Netherlands Club Moscow, which most Dutch expatriates living in Moscow are a member of.
'Total football'
During the first match the Russian Alumni Football Team lost 4-0 against the Dutch who displayed some attractive and intelligent ‘total football’, which the nation of Johan Cruijff and Guus Hiddink is famous for. Both Russian teams played with a mixed squad of male and female players, while the Dutch female expatriates declined to boot up.
The second match was quite a different story. Encouraged by a crowd of Russian supporters the Russian student team took a surprising lead in t
he first half bringing the game to 1-0 (goal by Petr Goryansky). The Dutch, playing in white t-shirts, the colours of the Russian national football team, came back just 5 minutes before the break to even things up at 1–1.
Late in the second half the fanatic Russians, who confusingly played in orange t-shirts, scored a sensational goal finally pushing the Dutch into a 2-1 defeat. Russian captain Konstantin Vachnadze of the student team was leading his team to victory, while for some of the female students it was their first football match ever.
Dream final
So the ‘dream final’, according to Nuffic Neso Director and event organizer Charles Hoedt, became a reality: a football battle between the Russians and the Dutch.
From the first half the match seemed to be a done deal for the Dutch after a superb goal from 10 metres by striker Jurjen Verschoor, who usually spends his days as Deputy COO at ING Life Insurance in Russia, brought the tally to 2-0. ‘I really thought the game was over’, he was quoted as saying during half time.
Despite a disappointing start, during the second half the Russians student began to fight back and scored to bring the margin closer at 2-1. However, the Dutch goal keeper played a terrific game, thwarting 3 on-target shots from the revived Russians with some miraculous saves. Playing valiantly on every ball they got, the Russian students pushed forward to try to draw even before extra time, but after a late goal from the Dutch in the dying minutes of the match the Low Countries came out on top with a 3-1 victory.
The participating players and the Russian referee received bronze, silver and gold medals during the large prize 
ceremony. The Golden Nuffic Neso NCM Cup, and bottles of champagne, went to the first Netherlands Club Moscow Team, who now have to defend it during next year’s tournament.
After the tournament there was an informal Dutch-Russian reception in Grand Café Probka. The Russians were already talking about next year’s ‘revenge’. ‘And we hope the Dutch females will have their own football team’, a Russian player was quoted. ‘So it can be women against women, and men against men.’
For pictures: http://picasaweb.google.ru/nesorussia/NufficNesoRussiaNCMFootballTournament2009?feat=directlink
Nuffic Neso – NCM Football Tournament
First match
Nuffic Neso Russian Alumni – First Dutch NCM Expat team : 0 – 4
Second match
Nuffic Neso Students – Second Dutch NCM Expat team: 2 – 1
Final
Nuffic Neso Students – First Dutch NCM Expat team: 1 – 3
