CORK CITY CAN further enhance their financial rewards from this season’s Europa League with a third-round qualifier that kicks off tonight, but you can’t put a price on the memorable moments they have created so far in the campaign.
That’s according to manager John Caulfield, who has taken his side to Belgium this evening for a first leg against KRC Genk, a team which is packed with internationals and captained by former Feyenoord and Rangers midfielder Thomas Buffel.
Thanks to victories over Linfield and BK Hacken in the previous two rounds, City have already earned €675,000 in prize money — over 12 times as much as they brought in for finishing second in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division last season.
The Leesiders, who eliminated Hacken following a 1-0 second-leg triumph at Turner’s Cross last Thursday, will be rewarded with a further €230,000 and a chance to play for a place in the group stages of the Europa League if they can cause another upset by overcoming the Belgian champions of 2011.
“There’s a lot of talk about the money. As far as I’m concerned, I understand from the club’s point of view that it’s important. But you can’t beat memories like last Thursday night. No money buys you that,” Caulfield said.
We spoke to the players all week and after the match, with the incredible atmosphere after the game and what they had achieved. As management, all we do is work as hard as we can and try to push the lads as much as we can.
“What they achieved last Thursday night was phenomenal and we go into another game where we’re massive underdogs, given little chance. We know a lot about them and we’ll give it our best shot.
“At the end of the day, from my point of view, it was never about money anyway. It’s about doing your best, achieving what you can and having memories like you had last Thursday night afterwards. Obviously you need a few bob to pay the bills but you can’t beat experiences like last Thursday night.”
Cork City defended excellently against Hacken, restricting the Swedish Cup holders to one goal over the course of 180 minutes. But with a return fixture against Genk to come at Turner’s Cross in seven days’ time, it’s likely to be a case of damage limitation tonight at the Luminus Arena (kick-off, 7pm Irish time).
Genk, who were fourth in Belgium last season, boast an attacking threat which is carried by the aforementioned Buffel, former Swansea City playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo, 18-year-old Jamaican wonderkid Leon Bailey and international strikers Nikos Karelis (Greece) and Ally Samatta (Tanzania).
Caulfield: “They have a number of players with international experience. Physically they’re a big, strong side. From our point of view, we have to perform as well as we did over the two games against Hacken and our concentration levels have to be high to give us any chance of bringing the game back to Cork.
If we give our best performance, that’s all you can ask for. While they seem to be a better team than Hacken, we have to look after ourselves and see if we can give the same level of performance as we did last week.
“We have a lot of pace out wide and I think we are dangerous on the counter. You would imagine, with them being at home first, that they’ll probably feel they can win the match and will come at us, which I think will give us opportunities on the counter.
“We want to bring the tie back to Cork and have that crowd back at Turner’s Cross again.”
