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Long one of the also-rans of Dutch soccer, Vitesse flipped its traditional script with a 2-0 win over AZ in the 2016-17 KNVB Cup final.
Ricky van Wolfswinkel scored in the 81st minute to put Vitesse ahead, then settled any nerves with a second in the 88th. And Vitesse duly closed out the match to claim the first major trophy of its 125-year history.
The team combined beer, pizza and selfies with the Cup in the locker room after the game.
Matt Miazga was in the starting lineup for the match, and played the full 90 minutes. Fellow Chelsea loanees Lewis Baker and Nathan also started for Vitesse. The 21-year-old American is the second former New York Red Bulls players to lift the Dutch Cup in recent years: Jozy Altidore scored the winner on a happier day for AZ in 2013.
For Miazga, the Cup caps a successful loan stint at Vitesse. He will return to Chelsea at the end of the season having proven he can contribute at the Eredivisie level - and though the EPL superclub is unlikely to overawed by a player who has merely held down a starting spot for a decent Dutch club, his prospects of another loan or transfer to another top-flight club in Europe must surely have been improved by his experience with Vitesse.
Since Maikel van der Werff went down injured in February (he returned to the field as a late sub in the Cup final), Miazga has been the preferred starter at center-back. And he has shown growth over the course of the season: an earlier starting spell was cut short when Vitesse's form collapsed, but his second shot at regular starts has seen him hold on to his place.
In addition whatever boost the Cup might provide to his profile with regard to his next move at club level (and his options may yet include staying at Vitesse), Miazga will surely hope his work in the Netherlands has perhaps caught USMNT head coach Bruce Arena's eye.
The player appears to have fallen out of the USMNT picture since Arena's appointment as Jurgen Klinsmann's replacement, but there is a Gold Cup to be played this summer and the squad for that tournament might see the current head coach allowed to break from his "win-now" mandate for World Cup qualifying and explore the player pool. There might not be room for a young Chelsea loanee in Arena's road-to-Russia plans, but maybe there is a place for a Dutch Cup winner in a more experimental Gold Cup squad later this year.