The opening match of the new Eredivisie season was a shock for NEC Nijmegen. The team lost 0-2 against Telstar at the Goffertstadion and must react quickly as they face an important Champions League match against Olympiakos on September 15th.
In the first minute of the game, Patrick Brouwer scored for Telstar. Midway through the first half, Rui Mendes doubled the lead to 0-2. Kaj Sierhuis managed to score a goal late in the match but NEC could not find an equalizer.
"This loss hits hard," said captain Tjaronn Chery to ESPN*. "After last week's good performance against Olympiakos, we just threw it away here like that. We were absolutely not ourselves. In the first minute, we conceded 0-1 and then stood there all asleep. After 15 minutes, we were already 0-2 down, making it very difficult. In the second half, we had the ball but created few chances. How is that possible? That's hard to say. It just didn't work out for us. On Tuesday, we have another important game.
Chery coming off in the 64th minute stood out, especially as the 38-year-old veteran was NEC's creative hub last season. "You'll have to ask the coach that," he said at first, not revealing much about his feelings over the substitution.
But Chery is ready to continue, before confirming he could have played on. "Yes, of course. In the end, we should have won here; we were simply obliged to. If you start like that, you don't deserve to win. We need to put our heads together and go full throttle towards Tuesday's match.
The match against Olympiakos is a crucial duel for the team as they try to qualify for the Champions League.
