Newcastle United Football Club - Match reports

Season 2002-03
VV Capelle (Netherlands) (a) Friendly

Date: Saturday 20th July 2002, 6pm local.

Venue: Sportpark 't Slot, Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands.

Conditions: Decidedly damp

Admission: €tbc

Programme: Free

VV Capelle		Newcastle
	0 - 4
Half time:	0 - 1

Score Sheet:
		Robert (29) Ameobi (65) Solano (83) Griffin (88)

	Teams
Roy Winkelman Wim Bubberman Ron Valk Alex van der Made Richard Elzinga others tbc		Harper Hughes Bernard S.Caldwell Dabizas Kerr Dyer Acuna Shearer Viana Robert

Substitutes:
(80) Danny Zechiel for Winkleman (29) Wim Bubberman for tbc (29) Ron Valk for tbc (29) Alex van der Made for tbc others tbc		Given for Harper (46) Griffin for Hughes (46) Elliott for Bernard (46) O'Brien for S.Caldwell (46) Speed for Acuna (46) Marcelino for Dabizas (46) Bassedas for Kerr (46) Solano for Dyer (46) Ameobi for Shearer (46) Quinn for Viana (46) LuaLua for Robert (46)

Subs not used:
tbc		Bramble McClen Cort

Bookings:
None		None
Dismissals:
None		None

Referee: L. Stofkoper

Attendance: 2,500 Despite the rain, a large and frankly inebriated Toon following of around 500 gave good support to the team. Sir Bobby Robson posed with a section of the travelling crowd for photos before the game, and was back on the pitch after 30 minutes when our opening goal heralded a bizarre ceremony. A trio of Capelle players making their final appearances took their leave after our first goal in the 29th minute (Ron Valk, Alex van der Made and Wim Bubberman) and our manager was called upon to present them with bouquets of sunflowers before the restart. They seemed pleased enough. A post-match pitch invasion by away fans culminated in a chorus of "sit doon if you love the Toon" despite the moisture and clartiness of playing surface - although the sun had at least come out by then. Locals drunkenly brawled with bemused Dutch police after the match in a dispute over access to the bar in the ground. Toon fans weren't involved, save for standing nearby…and sniggering. South Shields Mags were amongst those travellers present and posed for post-match pictures on the field with Robbie Elliott and Aaron Hughes:

Goals

29 mins Robert run and shot 1-0

Half time: VV 0 NUFC 1

65 mins Ameobi shot fumbled in 2-0

83 mins Solano chip 3-0

88 mins Griffin deflected shot 4-0

Full time: VV 0 NUFC 4

We Said

Bobby Robson:

"I thought all four centre halves performed well and Marce looked good.

"There was never any doubt that he would play at the weekend and he will play again. We pulled him out of training for a couple of days last week because he had sore thighs but that was all.

"Nikos Dabizas had the same problem on Friday but he started the game against Capelle. Jamie McClen has just recovered from the same thing but it's nothing unusual at this stage of pre-season.

"Marcelino is not injured and he is up for selection this season just like any other player."

"Some of Kieron's runs against Capelle were electric. (Hugo) Viana made some clever passes and (Laurent) Robert took his goal very well.

" Laurent is that kind of player. He has great individual skill and knows where the goal is. At this stage of our pre-season Capelle was the right place at the right time and Holland is a great place to prepare for the season ahead.

"We're all enjoying ourselves here and hopefully the remainder of the tour will go well."

They Said

Rene Vermunt:

To follow

Capelle squad as listed in programme:

Peter van Assendelft
Rudi Banffer
Ton van Bremen
Wim Bubberman
Richard Elzinga
Arne van Gelder
Andre Hol
Alex van der Made
Patrick Molendijk
Jim Nederhand
Wout Ooms
Marvin Redjosetiko
Patrick Thijssen
Ron Valk
Huub Visser
Jaap Veldhuizen
Roy Winkelman
Danny Zechiel

Stats

Pre-season goals:

Ameobi 1
Griffin 1
Robert 1
Solano 1

Pre-season pitch time (in minutes):

Acuna 45=45
Ameobi 45=45
Bassedas 45=45
Bernard 45=45
Bramble 0=0
S.Caldwell 45=45
Cort 0=0
Dabizas 45=45
Dyer 45=45
Elliott 45=45
Given 45=45
Griffin 45=45
Harper 45=45
Hughes 45=45
Jenas 0=0
Kerr 45=45
LuaLua 45=45
Marcelino 45=45
McClen 0=0
O'Brien 45=45
Quinn 45=45
Robert 45=45
Shearer 45=45
Solano 45=45
Speed 45=45
Viana 45=45

Craig Bellamy wasn't risked and remained in England to work on his rehab following keyhole surgery by Dr Richard Steadman in the USA.

There was a debut for recent signing Hugo Viana while fellow new boy Titus Bramble remained unused on the bench.

The lesser-spotted Marcelino appeared as a second half substitute, his first public outing for the Magpies since Robert Lee's testimonial match at home to Athletic Bilbao in August 2001.

And there was a first appearance for Christian Bassedas in a Newcastle shirt since October 2001, with the midfielder spending the second half of last season on loan at Tenerife.

Missing from the touring party was Dutch goalkeeper John Karelse, born in Kapelle (about an hour's drive to the west of Capelle) but out of the first team picture and playing in a reserve XI at Darlington the night before.

Waffle

Newcastle's pre-season began in a Dutch downpour on Saturday, as they kicked off a four match tour of little-known sides by strolling to victory.

Two years after they'd last visited Rotterdam, United were back in the city but rather than a date with Feyenoord in De Kuip, their opponents were an amateur side playing at a small complex in the suburbs of the city.

Former boss Ruud Gullit was present - at least in spirit - as a cloudburst of ferocity unseen since the mackem monsoon was unleashed at kickoff. That soaked all those present at the mostly uncovered venue, except for the gentlemen of the press, who were issued with Capelle club umbrellas!

Conditions notwithstanding, there was an encouraging debut for Hugo Viana, showing confidence and two-footed passing ability allied to good vision.

Of the others, Nolberto Solano showed moments of class and Wayne Quinn came top of the class for effort.

Biffa

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