Final
Club de Campo (ESP) 4 defeated Cannock (ENG) 2

3rd Place Playoff
Oranje Zwart (NED) 4 defeated Uhlehorster (GER) 4 (Oranje Zwart won 8-7 on penalty strokes) 

Report by Julian Hale

Spain’s Club de Campo fended off relentless second half pressure from English side Cannock to end up deserved 4-2 winners on the last day of the 2005 European Cup Winners Cup in Lille. 

“We did it for Madrid, for Spain,” said Eduardo Aguilar, who admitted that tiredness had crept into their game as it had against Oranje Zwart in their pool game the previous day. 

The Spaniards were well on top after a penalty corner by Argentina’s Jorge Lombi in the 10th minute was followed by an opportunist field goal by France’s Frederic Soyez soon after. Lombi finished the tournament’s top marksman with Soyez named player of the tournament. 

Three minutes later Cannock were back in the hunt, pulling one back from a short corner converted by Simon Ramsden. With Cannock pressing for the equaliser, Campo were always dangerous on the break. Painfully for the English club, Soyez was again on the scoresheet from a penalty corner on the stroke of half time. 

A bad defensive error early in the second half nearly let the Spanish in before Cannock rallied, creating a number of half chances. Throughout, Barry Middleton and Andrew West were busy up front causing the Spanish plenty of problems. In defence Rodrigo Garza soaked up the pressure, regularly clearing Campo’s lines. 

A fine penalty corner save and another missed shot suggested that the writing was on the wall for Cannock. But then, after so much intricate play had failed to pay dividends, the direct route worked perfectly - a quickly taken hit was smashed high into the top corner by Graham Moodie to give the Midlanders a lifeline. 

That sparked the Spanish, who had been dangerously sitting on their two-goal cushion, into action. A well-worked penalty corner routine, Campo’s third of the match, in the 65th minute effectively put paid to Cannock’s hopes. Victor Sojo nearly stretched the Spaniards’ lead in the latter stages. Cannock were clearly flagging as the Spaniards tried to drive home their advantage with two late penalty corners but Cannock kept them out. 

“It was a surprise to see the English in the final but they played well and were only just beaten,” said Soyez’s girlfriend Christelle Lafaury, a French international in her own right. 

“We expected a Dutch-German final as usual so an English-Spanish one was great for the crowd,” she added, pointing to the twenty-strong Campo supporters’ group that had travelled from Spain to cheer on their friends/co-players/husbands. 

In the earlier match, Dutch side Oranje Zwart outlasted German team Uhlenhorster 8-7 on penalty strokes after scores were locked at 4-4 at full time. 

Oranje Zwart coach Toon Siepman rested two of his best players for the match. He explained that this was due to a gruelling eight-match schedule in the next 16 days as his team tussles for the Dutch national league title with Bloemendaal.