RS’s indoor football team put pressure on its rivals last Wednesday evening. In a well-attended match played at Erasmus Sport, the student team beat another Rotterdam-based student team, TPP, 2-1. As a result, RS are now ranked second in the second period of the Topklasse B league.
This rank entitles the team to contest the play-offs, which will determine which team gets promoted to the First Division. RS’s closest rival, The Hague-based VCS, will play its final game of the season on Friday. If it wins the game, it will pass RS in the rankings.
RS began the competition poorly, scoring just two points off the opening thirteen matches, but in February the team managed to turn things around. The indoor footballers won six consecutive matches, causing them to climb to eighth spot. In the second period – a separate ranking for the second half of the season – the student team was one of the top teams.
Excellent start
In its final game of the season, RS had to take on TPP from Rotterdam-Zuid, which was ranked well above RS. TPP got off to an excellent start.
Technically, in particular, RS was often outplayed by the visitors, who never seemed to lose the ball. However, the home team was better at finishing things off, and so took a 2-0 lead by halftime.
Cat-like reflexes
The highlight of the match was an assist by No. 10 Jur van der Beek (Business Administration, 21), whose through ball put Ben Rohloff (IBA) in front of the goal on his own, facing only TPP’s goalkeeper. It was one of very few highlights in a poor match for both teams. The audience was not treated to a particularly good game.
It was thanks to RS goalkeeper Alvaro Cassarotti (a Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences alumnus, 28) that TPP only managed to score one goal. A few cat-like reflexes by Cassarotti were enough to keep his team going.
Long-term process
Cassarotti himself said it was mainly due to their opponents that RS managed to snag three points. “Let’s be honest. We were lucky that they failed to make the most of some opportunities,” he said matter-of-factly.
Van der Beek emphasised that RS’s series of successful games is only the beginning. “This is a long-term process. You can tell we’re getting better and better, both as a team and on an individual level. We’re going for promotion to the First Division.”
