Benfica wins 2008 IGCT final

A bright sunny day again, on Monday May 12 the final matches of the 23rd IGCT were played. In the Koog Cup battle ( the losers’ round ) AZ, Nottingham Forest, Volendam and Groningen got through to the semi-finals. In the main round we saw exciting matches between Japan-Vitesse/AGOVV and Ajax-Shakhtar Donetsk. Only after penalty kicks did Shakhtar and Vitesse/AGOVV manage to reach the semi-finals. The other semi-finalists were Benfica and last year’s winner, Red Star Belgrade.

The Koog Cup final was finally played by AZ and Nottingham Forest. Two teams that were highly motivated from the start to make up for losing out on the winner’s round. In the end AZ were the winners of a very exciting match. They had a clear 3-1 victory over sympathetic Nottingham Forest. The latter team, by the way, were very pleased with the organisation and the level of skills at the tournament, as the leader of their delegation, Nick Marshall, stated. Nottingham travel to many tournaments every year and ‘ Uitgeest is really on of the finest.’ And they are bound to know because it was their first appearance at Uitgeest.
In the main round both semi-finals were decided by penalty kicks in the end. The Shakhtar Donetsk vs Benfica match was in a class of its own. What speed, commitment and zest. The two teams played on the edge of what was permissible but excellent referee work kept the players from going over the edge. ICGT could certainly not complain about its referees. Friend and foe agreed that both players and referees were highly skilled this year. At the end of the match penalty kicks were to decide. Benfica proved to have the strongest nerves and went to the final.
The other semi-final between Red Star Belgrade and Vitesse was decided by penalty kicks as well. After a poor match Vitesse/AGOVV were the happy winners ultimately. In the match for 3rd and 4th place Red Star Belgrade went home with the consolation prize by beating Shakhtar Donetsk after penalty kicks.


    

At about 4 p.m. the final between Vitesse/AGOVV and Benfica could begin. The match was led by Mr Sanders, an excellent referee. Watched by a great crowd the teams walked onto the pitch through a guard of honour formed by FC Uitgeest junior players to play their game in a magnificent atmosphere. Against all odds Vitesse took a 1-0 lead after a fantastic distance shot by Alexander Buttner. Benfica raised the pressure and soon scored a well-earned equalizer through Andre Soares. Ten minutes later they scored again when forward Wang Gang of Benfica put his team in the lead. Vitesse/AGOVV made a strong effort but Benfica managed to finish the match without any further damage.

The prize-giving ceremony by Cor Groenewegen, whose name is dedicated to the tournament, took place immediately after the final on the FC Uitgeest pitch. The 4th place cup went to Shakhtar Donetsk, the 3rd place cup to Red Star Belgrade. In between a few other cups were awarded. The tournament top scorer prize was awarded to Taurig Brander of Ajax Capetown. The best goalkeeper of the tournament was Gonda Shuicy of the Japanese team and the Henk Zevenbergen Fair Play Trophy was awarded to the Japanese team as well. The cup for the best player at the tournament went to Benfica left back Wagner da Silva.

Vitesse/AGOVV came second and a well-deserved first place was for the team that participated in the IGCT for the first time this year, Benfica. The organisers are very proud that this great name in football will be engraved in the tournament challenge cup.
 

And last but not least. The organisers are looking back on a very successful event. An event that was only made possible by the efforts and co-operation of many volunteers, sponsors and the Uitgeest local authority. In this way we would like to give our hearty thanks to all these people for their commitment and we hope to welcome them again next year

(Photographs by Ron Hazendonk)

For photographs taken in the marquee have a look at www.what-you-see-is-what-you-get.nl



    

    

    

Ever since the kick-off of the first tournament in 1985 ICGT has known a tumultuous growth. Although we started out with two unknown foreign teams the event has come to be highly respected regionally, nationally as well as abroad. This website offers you all the information there is on the tournament.

For the scores of the games from today see the Program list.

    

    

    

(Foto's gemaakt door Pascal Weidijk: www.what-you-see-is-what-you-get.nl )



FC Uitgeest- Nottingham Forest openingsgame 23rd ICGT

Last Friday, March 14th, the drawing of the 23rd ICGT has been taken place in the community room of the Uitgeest Football club. Under the attention of about 250 guests and other attendants and in association with AZ top players Kemy Agustien and Mounir El Hamadoui, director of tournament Henk Kempers matched the home team with Nottingham Forest for the openings game of this Dutch top event. The other opponents of this English top team in group B are Willem II and Ajax Capetown.
The two regional favourites, Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar, had the wish to play against strong opponents. Well, they can! Ajax, in group C, has to play against the German Bundesligaclub Bayer Leverkusen, Dutch runner-up FC Groningen and the Japanese selection under 19. AZ welcomes its matches against Benfica, FC Utrecht and Red Star Belgrade.
Strong Ukraine team Shakhtar Donetsk will be satisfied with their drawing, while they meet in group D Volendam, Vitesse/AGOVV and Belgian Club Brugges. They have the ambition to win the tournament and looking at this group it must be possible for the team to reach the quarterfinals.  The complete groups are below.
Perhaps until may 10th in Uitgeest.

GROUP A        GROUP B               GROUP C                GROUP D
AZ                     FC Uitgeest         Ajax                         Volendam
Benfica           Nottingham F  Bayer Leverk.     Shakhtar D.
Utrecht          Willem II            FC Groningen      Vitesse
Rode Ster      Ajax CapeTown Japan U 19            Club Brugge 

Later more.

News 

Once again the organisers of the 23rd ICGT have managed to contract a host of extremely strong participants for the 2008 edition. The organising board might even boast the strongest list of participants ever. The latest famous club contracted is Benfica from Portugal. So the number of participating clubs that have ever won the Champions League or the Europe Cup amounts to four, because Ajax, Nottingham Forest and Red Star Belgrade had already been contracted. Moreover, German Bayer Leverkusen that lost the 2002 final to Real Madrid 2-0 will also participate. Uitgeest may truly be proud of this achievement. 

This year the other participants are quite an asset as well. Other foreign teams include Club Bruges from Belgium, Ajax Capetown, the Japanese National Under 19 team and Shaktar Donetsk from the Ukraine. 

Dutch input will be stronger than ever this year. For the first time the Ajax A selection will take part in the tournament, which might be called quite a success. Vitesse, Willem II, Volendam and FC Utrecht took part in the ICGT before, which does not go for FC Groningen that is going to perform in Uitgeest for the first time. The organisers are especially proud of securing the AZ Youth selection for the tournament. A lot of supporters from this area will be very happy with the fact that this future top team is once again participating. Traditionally, Dutch input is completed by the FC Uitgeest youth team itself. They do not consider themselves potential winners, but playing clubs of this stature will certainly give them goose bumps. 

On Friday 14 March the drawing of the lots will take place at the FC Uitgeest canteen. With Andy Houtkamp, presenter of Langs de Lijn radio sports programme and other guests, yet to be invited (you will certainly hear more about them) we shall decide who is going to play whom. Then it will be revealed who the hosting team of FC Uitgeest are going to play during the opening match. 

This part of the site will keep you posted about news and background information on the 2008 ICGT.