Mark van Bommel did not know how quickly he wanted to return to Antwerp after he lost the cup final with Antwerp FC against Union Sint-Gillis on Thursday afternoon. But not before the outgoing head coach had released his story to the media, in which he looked back on his two years at De Bosuil. “No one can tell me this was a bad season.”
In the press room of De Heyzel, as the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels is called, the euphoric sounds of Union supporters still resounded through the walls when Mark van Bommel and Vincent Janssen entered to give their view on the lost team just before the return drive to Antwerp. cup final against Union (1-0). Antwerp deservedly lost and will therefore no longer win a prize, after Van Bommel and associates brought both the championship and the cup to De Bosuil last year. The Super Cup also followed in July last year.
‘We’re getting out of here as quickly as possible. When we’re done here, we’re off,” Van Bommel was the first to answer. ‘We know how beautiful it can be, now you also feel the pain. That’s how it always goes with finals; one has to win. I’m glad that after last year, with the cup and the championship, we know how beautiful it is. Then Union was on the other side.”
‘Not a nice final’
His team – with, in addition to Janssen, many more Dutch contributions in the starting line-up with Owen Wijndal, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Gyrano Kerk – had difficulty getting to grips with Union. “It was not a nice final and there were few chances, we knew that in advance,” said Van Bommel. ‘They took the lead from a standard situation, but otherwise had no chance and – we knew that – neither did we. It was one of those games where the team that took the lead had a great chance of winning.’
Van Bommel gave Union possession. “Yes, because they can hardly do that,” the former PSV and Wolfsburg coach countered sharply. He also played in a different formation than normal. ‘You have to look at where the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses lie. I think the plan was really good. Just think how many chances there were in a match against Union. There aren’t any. They cannot handle the ball well. They can counter very well, but otherwise there have been no chances.’
Van Bommel will not serve out his contract that runs until 2025 and wants to embark on a new adventure. With Antwerp he plays three more games in the play-offs for the championship, but the club is in a hopeless sixth place after six defeats and one victory in seven games. Achieving European football is nevertheless still possible. Van Bommel: ‘We want to finish as high as possible.’
Realistic
He said he was happy that he was asked how he looks back on this season. ‘I think we should be realistic for a moment. We are Antwerp and we know where we come from. Last year we won everything. That’s why we played the Super Cup this year and we won that too. We qualified for the Champions League through the preliminary rounds. That tune has never happened before and it will be very difficult for it to ever happen again. This season we qualified for the championship play-offs and we reached the cup final. You can’t tell me this is a bad season for us.”
He is especially critical of the recent results. ‘Only those matches aren’t that bad. Only the results are not good. Don’t tell me this was a bad season. There are a lot of teams that are having a bad season that would love to be in our shoes. If we end like this, with three prizes… Who would have thought? Do you remember my first press conference? Who was there? These are just facts, right? We also have to act normal for a while.’
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