Usually when watching the Eredivisie, the writer does not have time to blink, but unbelievably on Saturday, only five goals were scored in the four games in the Dutch top flight.
Saturday 22nd February 2014
HEERENVEEN 0-0 NAC BREDA
A drab 0-0 draw is a rarity in the Eredivisie but at Abe Lenstra Stadion in Saturday’s opening game the 22,147 in attendance had not much to cheer about.
It was a pretty uneventful game apart from the electricity cutting out in the stadium shortly before half-time. The fans had a party with their mobile phones as their only source of light.
Minutes before NAC Breda had a really good penalty shout turned down by referee Eric Braamhaar. Anthony Lurling, facing his old club for the first time since his move to Heerenveen in the winter, clearly elbowed the ball as he tried to shield his face from an Anouar Hadouir free-kick. As Hadioir protested with Braamhaar, the referee waved the player away.
A draw that helps neither although Nebojša Gudelj will be happy with the point more than Marco van Basten. NAC sit in tenth just five points away from the relegation zone as sixth-placed Heerenveen are now four points adrift from PSV in fifth.
TEAMS
HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Van Anholt, Marzo, Kruiswijk, Kum, Dijks, De Kamps, Lurling (Fazli 51), Van la Parra (Sinkgraven 83), Finnbogason, Basacikoglu.
SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, Otigba, Raitala, Varga, Van Aken.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: De Kamps 79.
NAC: Ten Rouwelaar, De Roover, Drost, Buijs, Van der Weg, Gilissen (Seuntjens 37), Matic, Verbeek (Swerts 77), Poepon, Tighadouini, Hadouir (Sarpong 58).
SUBS NOT USED: Babos, Kwakman, Hooi, Suk.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: None.
SC CAMBUUR 1-0 RODA JC
In a game where both sides were desperate for all three points, it was a stoppage time goal from Paco van Moorsel that gave Cambuur a vital win, that saw Roda have two men shown red cards late in the match.
Poor finishing and great goalkeeping kept the scores at bay until late on but Mitchell Donald missed an easy chance early on. The ever-busy Guus Hupperts made a great run down the right wing and played in Donald at the back post and with the goalkeeper out of reach, Donald side footed his effort wide of the post.
Leonard Neinhuis pulled out great stops to halt the celebrations of Guy Ramos and Hupperts as in the Roda goal Filip Kurto denied Jody Lukoki and Erik Bakker’s effort before half-time.
The visitors are really struggling to score goals, notching twice in the last six games and unable to find the net in three consecutive matches now.
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s side were reduced to nine men in the space of just three minutes as Kees Lucijkx and Ramos were both booked for the second time by referee Bas Nijhuis.
The winning goal for Cambuur to take all three points came in virtually, the last kick of the game. After a long ball was headed down by Martijn Barto, Paco van Moorsel was in the right place at the right time to poke the ball home past Kurto.
The win takes Cambuur up to 12th while Tomasson is now under real pressure as this is his side’s fifth defeat in a row and remain rock bottom of the league, four points adrift from safety.
TEAMS
CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Droste, Van der Laan, Bijker, Ritzmaier, Leeuwin, Van Brakel (Mulders 90), Bakker (Van Moorsel 67), Manu (Schepers 84), Lukoki, Barto.
SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Boxel, Pereira, Dijkstra.
GOALS: Van Moorsel 90+2.
BOOKINGS: Manu 4.
RODA: Kurto, Ramos, Van Peppen, Luijckx, Donald, Paulissen (Hocher 77), Letschert, Sutchuin, Kali, Hupperts, Nemeth (Monteyne 89).
SUBS NOT USED: Prus, Bonevacia, Pluim, Shkurtaj, Jacobs.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Paulissen 22, Luijckx 29, Ramos 71.
SENT OFF: Luijckx 87, Ramos 89.
PEC ZWOLLE 1-1 HERACLES
Zwolle and Heracles shared a point after substitute Furdjel Narsingh netted a late equaliser for the hosts to send the IJsseldelta Stadion into raptures.
Bryan Linssen was unlucky not to give Heracles the lead on 20 minutes, once he spotted that Diederik Boer raced out to meet Mark Uth, the goalkeeper was out of position when Uth passed the ball into Linssen in the area. The in-form winger lashed a shot towards goal, but Joost Broerse got in front as the ball smashed the defender in the stomach. Boer raced back across the goal to stop Linssen rebound shot.
A few minutes later, Zwolle’s Mustafa Saymak was unlucky not to score as he shot from the right wing which was deflected off the top of Remko Pasveer’s crossbar.
After Heracles missed further attempts from Linssen and Iliass Bel Hassani they finally found the net through an unlikely source on 40 minutes. From a Bel Hassani corner, the unmarked Jeroen Veldmate simply headed towards goal and Saymak failed to stop the ball from passing into the net.
This was the defender’s first goal of the season but strangely enough, he nearly notched again with a similar attempt early in the second half but failed to get the header on target this time.
Zwolle pressed and pressed until but failed to breach Pasveer’s goal. The best effort was just before the hour mark when Thanasis Karagounis and Jesper Drost combined but the latter smashed his effort off the woodwork.
Four minutes into injury time the equaliser finally came to wave a sigh of relief over Ron Jans’ face on the touchline. Substitute Furdjel Narsingh delivered a cool and calm chip over Pasveer to keep Zwolle in eighth place in the standings as the Almelo side stay in 11th.
TEAMS
ZWOLLE: Boer, Van Hintum, Van der Werff, Broerse, Van Polen, Karagounis (Narsingh 66), Klich, Saymak, Drost, Mahmudov (Benson 39), Fernandez (Nijland 88).
SUBS NOT USED: Begois, Hiwat, Fennich, Fernandes Pereira.
GOALS: Narsingh 90.
BOOKINGS: Van Hintum 26, Saymak 62.
HERACLES: Pasveer, Veldmate, Te Wierik, Davidson, Schenkeveld, Cziommer (Bruns 77), Linssen, Bel Hassani (Quansah 90), Rienstra, Uth, Rosheuvel (Tannane 73).
SUBS NOT USED: Telgenkamp, Koenders, Belterman, Powel.
GOALS: Veldmate 40.
BOOKINGS: Davidson 24, Linssen 52, Te Wierik 79, Bel Hassani 89.
NEC NIJMEGEN 0-2 PSV
PSV are really starting to get their game together as they won their fourth in four games over a resilient NEC Nijmegen.
The visitors gave the Eindhoven some trouble but the majority of efforts were restricted to outside the area. On 12 minutes, Navarone Foor tested PSV’s Jeroen Zoet with a looping strike from 25 yards out but the goalkeeper, selected by Louis van Gaal in the Oranje squad this week, caught with ease.
As usual, PSV’s counter attack looked their best threat at scoring and the individual skill of the on-loan Bryan Ruiz was back, as he looked far happier on the ball here than in the Premier League with Fulham earlier this season.
The hosts should have been awarded a penalty just before the interval but referee Bjorn Kuipers missed Jeffrey Bruma pulling on Michael Higdon’s shirt. The Englishman was not happy as the Kuipers was virtually standing on top of the foul and had no excuse for missing it.
PSV improved and created more chances in the second half and went close on 50 minutes with a strong Oskar Hiljemark strike from long range, which needed a strong hand from fellow countryman Karl-Johan Johnsson to tip wide.
Bryan Ruiz got the goal he deserved on 58 minutes, again, after an excellent counter attack from Cocu’s men. After Higdon was robbed of the ball by Santiago Arias on the edge of the PSV box, the young Colombian carried the ball forward into the opposition’s half. Arias laid it off to the Costa Rican on the right wing, where Ruiz cut inside and smashed a low drive past Johnsson at his near post.
PSV finished the game off on 82 minutes with yet another Memphis Depay speculative effort from distance. The young winger set-up the shot perfectly from 25 yards out and his right footed attempt dipped perfectly past the Johnsson and under the bar.
Philip Cocu has now witnessed his team improved to four consecutive wins for the first time since December 2012.
TEAMS
NEC: Johnsson, Vermijl, Van Eijden, Nielsen, Conboy, Rieks, Koolwijk, Štefánik (Jantscher 65), Foor (Hemlein 84), Jahanbakhsh, Higdon.
SUBS NOT USED: Gentenaar, Haitz, Palsson, Mulder, Leiwakabessy.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Koolwijk 19, Higdon 41.
PSV: Zoet, Rekik, Bruma, Arias, Willems (Hendrix 83), Schaars, Hiljemark, Park, Depay, Ruiz, Locadia (Matavz 72).
SUBS NOT USED: Tyton, Jørgensen, Maher, Narsingh, Brenet.
GOALS: Ruiz 58, Depay 82.
BOOKINGS: Bruma 18.
Click the name above to follow Will on Twitter.
totaldutchfootball.com 