3 hours Ago
A Cup Tie Decided From the Spot
The third-tier hosts struck first in the 47th minute. A corner came into the box, Finn de Bruin got a touch that changed the ball's path, and defender Mika Schrijver headed it home. The ground erupted. Fans who had waited all evening for a moment like this let it all out.
ADO did not stay behind for long. In the 57th minute, Nigel Thomas found a bit of space, took aim and fired at goal. The shot clipped a defender on the way and settled in the far corner, making it 1-1. Neither side could find a winner after that, and the match went through extra time to penalties.
The shootout had plenty of twists. Alex de Jong sent Excelsior '31's opening kick wide, which looked like a costly miss. Goalkeeper Kevin Reimink answered right away by saving Daryl Van Mieghem's effort to level things up. Later, after Schrijver missed his own penalty, Reimink stopped Juho Kilo to keep the hosts alive. The remaining kicks went in until Tom Koelman made it 6-5. That left ADO captain Sékou Sylla needing to score to stay in the tournament, but he put his shot wide. Players and supporters poured onto the pitch to celebrate.
Thieves Hit MVV's Stadium
Away from the pitch, MVV Maastricht had a rough night. Thieves broke into De Geusselt Stadium and cut and stole copper cables, also damaging fibre-optic lines. "Virtually all the cables and pipes have been cut," the club said. The damage could disrupt the LED advertising boards for Thursday's cup match against Excelsior Rotterdam. MVV has filed a police report.
The club said the break-in shows how vulnerable the stadium is, and that it is working to restore essential connections as fast as possible so visitors notice as little disruption as possible.
