FC Twente is still waiting for its first victory in the Europa League. At home against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, coach Joseph Oosting’s team failed to repair the damage suffered in the completely flopped first half.
The score became 0-1, which means that FC Twente is 29th in the Europa League standings and the chances of a sequel in the tournament are slim.
Mitchell van Bergen in action against Union.
After three draws and a defeat in the group stage of the Europa League, with which FC Twente had rewarded itself meagerly considering the game they had shown, it had to happen against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise. “It is an important match if we want to pursue our ambition. If we really want something, we have to win,” coach Joseph Oosting had said beforehand.
The Grolsch Veste, which is bubbling on European nights, offered a different view this time, because the largest part of Vak-P had to remain empty after the racist incident during the match against Lazio.
Furious start Union
In advance, FC Twente seemed to be the favorite, given Union’s only ninth place in the Belgian competition, but the Brussels team, who narrowly missed out on the title last season, started the match furiously.
FC Twente was outdone in terms of sharpness, duel power and speed. After Oosting’s team escaped an early deficit, because a goal by Franjo Ivanovic was disallowed for offside after intervention by the VAR, the ball was in the net a little later. Mohammed Fuseini walked through the Twente defense and placed the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall.
Physically insufficient from important Twente players
What was already noticeable in the European matches was the large difference in physical ability between most FC Twente players and the opponent. Key players such as Youri Regeer, Sem Steijn and Daan Rots were unable to offer sufficient physical resistance against the physical violence that opponents threw into the battle.
After a terrible first half, FC Twente could count themselves lucky that the score was only 0-1 at half-time, because Union had outdone the home team on all fronts.
Based on the idea of ‘better to turn back halfway than to go astray’, Oosting changed half his team halfway through the match, thereby repairing a few wrong choices. Homegrown players Rots, Gijs Besselink and Max Bruns made way for Sam Lammers, Alec Van Hoorenbeeck and Bas Kuipers. Anass Salah-Eddine moved to the right back position, allowing Regeer to return to midfield, where he had been a driving force in recent times.
The rebuilt FC Twente performed much better and immediately got a big chance via Steijn. Unnerstall, who had played an unfortunate role in the Belgian goal, proved his worth with great saves from chances for Ivanovic and substitutes Mathias Rasmussen and Kevin Rodriguez.
On the other side, substitute Lammers had the equalizer on his boot, but his shot from the turn went wide. And so the European adventure is not yet a resounding success for FC Twente with three defeats, four draws and still no victory.
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