Once again it seems Ajax’s will be lifting the Eredivisie title soon after handing FC Twente a 3-0 defeat today to put Frank de Boer’s side eight points clear at the top with just three games to go.
Sunday 30th March 2014
FEYENOORD 5-0 GO AHEAD EAGLES
Even without top scorer Graziano Pellè, Feyenoord managed to hit five past Go Ahead Eagles to move themselves into pole position for the Champions League qualification slot.
Lex Immers got the scoring underway with an excellent powerful low drive from his right foot that beat Go Ahead keeper Stephan Andersen at his near post. The 45,000 inside De Kuip were as loud as usual and push their team on.
However, the visitors should have been level on 20 minutes when a Jop van der Linden free-kick had the beating of Feyenoord stopper Erwin Mulder, but unfortunately for the Eagles defender the post kept the ball out.
Feyenoord search for the second goal but they had to wait until 49 minutes. Ruben Schaken crossed in from the right wing and Tony Vilhena leaped above everyone to head past Andersen to double the lead.
It was three in the 64 minute with Jean-Paul Boëtius scoring his ninth of the season. Attacking on the right-wing again, Schaken and Immers linked up well for the latter to put the ball on the plate for Boëtius to tap home. De Kuip erupted knowing that their side had cemented the victory.
Ronald Koeman’s side were not finished and Daryl Janmaat played in young striker Mitchell Te Verde on 77 minutes for the fourth, and finally Ruud Vormer split the Eagles defence with a ball through to Miquel Nelom two minutes from time and the substitute blasted the ball past Andersen to make it five.
This was the biggest win of the season for the Rotterdam side who are now in pole position for Champions League football next term, with a game in hand on the chasing pack. That game in hand will take place in Almelo on Wednesday against Heracles.
Go Ahead look in trouble and are only one point off the drop zone, they will look to Wednesday’s home game against NAC Breda to give them some breathing space off the others in the relegation fight.
TEAMS
FEYENOORD: Mulder, Janmaat, De Vrij, Martins Indi, Kongolo, Clasie, Immers, Vilhena, Boëtius, Te Vrede, Schaken.
SUBS NOT USED: Lamprou, Van Beek, Vormer, Nelom, Verhoek, Armenteros, Bakkal.
GOALS: Immers 13, Vilhena 49, Boëtius 64, Te Verde 77, Nelom 89.
BOOKINGS: Kongolo 51.
GO AHEAD: Andersen, Amevor, Vriends, Van der Linden, Schenk, Overgoor, Türüç, Rijsdijk, Antonia, Houtkoop, Falkenburg.
SUBS NOT USED: Ter Mate, Ten Den, Kolder, Azevedo, Haps, Pot, Lambooij.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Türüç 21.
AJAX 3-0 FC TWENTE
Frank de Boer’s Ajax close in on their fourth successive Eredivisie title and now sit eight points clear of nearest rivals Feyenoord.
Twente should have taken the lead after a quarter of an hour after some great work from Felipe Gutiérrez. The Chilean playmaker surged down the right wing and slipped past Stefano Denswil with ease, and as Luc Castaignos was waiting at the back post for a tap in, the ball to him was not good enough and played in behind him. The majority of the 51,117 inside the Amsterdam Arena breathed a sigh of relief.
After Andreas Bjelland fouled Thulani Serero just before the half hour mark, referee Pieter Vink awarded Ajax a free-kick on the right wing which lead to opening goal. Dane Lasse Schöne whipped in the ball to an unmarked Stefano Denswil to nod the ball towards the goal out of Nick Marsman’s reach.
Twente pressed for the equaliser and look likely to score every time they went forward and they should have been level before the interval. The always lively Quincy Promes spotted a lovely run into the area by Youness Mokhtar. When the midfielder received the ball, the angle was too tight and his effort bounced off the foot of the post. Minutes later, Castaignos overpowered Denswil and was one-on-one with Jasper Cillessen, but the striker blared his shot off the crossbar from close range.
As the second half began, Twente pressed forward looking for that equalising goal but it was Ajax that found the net before the hour mark. Bojan Krkic, on loan from Barcelona, has had a poor season but he had a cracking second half for the Amsterdammers and spied a great run down the right from Ajax full-back Ricardo van Rhijn. The defender collected the ball and laid in Lasse Schöne in the middle to tap home with ease.
Seven minutes later, the Spaniard Bojan Krkic clinched the win for Ajax with an excellent goal. With Twente on the back foot, trying to find that defensive cover whilst still attacking got it all wrong as the ball came out to Davy Klaassen on the right wing. Klaassen played the ball into Bojan just outside the area, and rather than look for another pass, the young striker blasted a shot past Marsman to make it three.
All in all a great day for Ajax and this win felt like a win from the champions, and after the last few disappointing performances, Frank de Boer will sleep much better this evening. The Amsterdammers are now eight points ahead and have a game in hand on most of their rivals with just four rounds to go. That game in hand will be played on Wednesday night away to relegation contenders RKC Waalwijk.
TEAMS
AJAX: Cillessen, Van Rhijn, Denswil, Veltman, Boilesen (Poulsen 70), Blind, Klaassen, Serero, Bojan (Duarte 79), Schöne, Kishna (Sigthórsson 62).
SUBS NOT USED: Vermeer, Van der Hoorn, De Sa, Riedewald.
GOALS: Denswil 29, Schöne 58, Bojan 65.
BOOKINGS: None.
TWENTE: Marsman, Bjelland, Schilder, Bengtsson, Martina, Ebecilio, Tadić, Gutiérrez (Brama 71), Mokhtar, Promes (Corona 81), Castaignos (Børven 70).
SUBS NOT USED: Stevens, Breukers, Eghan, Röseler.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: None.
SC CAMBUUR 0-0 AZ ALKMAAR
The resilient Cambuur kept the free-scoring AZ Alkmaar at bay to share the points in a goal-less draw.
AZ missed the chance to leapfrog Heerenveen into sixth but it was the home side should have taken the lead after just five minutes when Elvis Manu hit the side netting with a glorious opportunity.
Dick Advocaat’s side were unlucky not to leave Leeuwarden with the win after Denni Avdic, replacing Aron Johansson in the starting line-up, had a goal ruled out by match official Ed Janssen with twenty minutes to go. AZ were awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box and Donny Gorter lashed a shot into the wall and the ball fell perfectly to Victor Elm who hit a half-volley at goal.
Cambuur goalkeeper Leonard Nienhuis stopped the effort but failed to smother the ball. Central defender Nick Viergever attacked the ball which ricocheted off Nienhuis into the path of Avdic who tapped home the rebound. The referee deemed that Avdic was offside when Elm had took his shot and much to AZ’s chagrin, video replays showed that may have been the case, but it was certainly a close decision. AZ coach Advocaat when ballistic on the touchline protesting furiously with the fourth official.
The sharing of points saw Cambuur stay in 11th well clear of the relegation places and AZ stay in seventh inside the Europa League playoffs.
TEAMS
CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Droeste, Van der Laan, Bijker, Leeuwin, Van Moorsel (Ogbeche 62), El Makrini, Ritzmaier, Barto (Hemmen 62), Lukoki (Bakker 79), Manu.
SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Pereira, Dijkstra, Schepers.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Lukoki 76.
AZ: Esteban, Johansson, Viergever, Poulsen, Gouweleeuw, Gudelj, Elm, Ortiz, Berghuis (Gorter 53), Beerens (Gudmundsson 26), Avdic (Jóhannsson 83).
SUBS NOT USED: De Winter, Reijnen, Henriksen, Wuytens.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Johansson 32, Gouweleeuw 51.
RODA JC 0-1 RKC WAALWIJK
Jon Dahl Tomasson’s Roda are staring the Eerste Divisie straight in the face now falling to 1-0 defeat to fellow relegation contenders RKC Waalwijk.
The only goal of the game came midway through the first half with Romeo Castelen scoring his sixth of the campaign. After receiving the ball inside the area, Castelen faked a shot that made Ard van Peppen slip and turn his back on the ball and the striker drove the ball home past Filip Kurto.
Tomasson’s Roda had their chances to score the equaliser but Berry Powel smashed a great effort on the post and RKC stand-in keeper Arjen van Dijk was in good form saving from Gus Ramos and Guus Hupperts.
As time ticked on, the Roda crowd got restless and just past the hour mark the hosts should have been awarded a penalty by referee Bjorn Kuipers. A corner was whipped in and Prince-Désir Gouano literally rugby tackled striker Krisztián Nemeth down to the ground. The referee and his assistants missed the incident and the French defender got away with it.
RKC keeper Van Dijk was worked for the remainder of the game but Roda could not get the ball past him and it was a poor result for the home side. Roda now sit sixth points adrift from safety and their best chance of survival will surely be trying to move out of the bottom position and into the relegation playoffs.
TEAMS
RODA: Kurto, Ramos, Van Peppen, Letschert, Dijkhuizen (Paulissen 81), Fledderus, Donald (Németh 63), Kali, Sutchuin (Bonevacia 74), Hupperts, Powel.
SUBS NOT USED: Prus, Luijckx, Monteyne, Höcher.
GOALS: None.
BOOKINGS: Donald 57, Dijkhuizen 67.
RKC: Van Dijk, Van Hoevelen, Amieux, Gouano, Apau, Jungschläger, Braber (De Ridder 46), Anderson, Sno, Castelen (Van Mosselveld 85), Beauguel (Joachim 70).
SUBS NOT USED: Šeda, Ivens, Schet, Lamey.
GOALS: Castelen 22.
BOOKINGS: Beauguel 27, Apau 45.
ADO DEN HAAG 1-1 PEC ZWOLLE
In the final game of the weekend, ADO Den Haag and PEC Zwolle played a draw which saw ADO remain undefeated under Henk Fraser but by no means out of relegation trouble yet.
Zwolle arrived in Den Haag buzzing with confidence after reaching the KNVB Beker final in midweek, took the lead after twenty minutes through defender Maikel van der Werff. Stef Nijland whipped in a corner towards the back post and ADO goalkeeper Gino Coutinho misjudged it, flapped, collide into team-mate Gianni Zuiverloon and Van der Werff headed the ball into the empty goal.
The hosts should been level before half-time if it were not for the heroics of Zwolle keeper Kevin Begois. Tom Beugelsdijk met Jerson Cabral’s cross with his head on 40 minutes but the Belgian goalkeeper, diving the opposite way, stuck a leg out to clear it off the line.
Fraser’s side did tie the scoring with a Ronald Alberg wonder goal two minutes later. The midfielder lashed a half-volley inside Begois right-hand post from around 30 yards.
Zwolle should have gained all three points in the dying moments of the game when substitute Fred Benson was given an golden opportunity after Kamehelo Mokotjo had played the striker through on goal. With only the Coutinho to beat, the striker side footed his effort wide of the post much to the delight of the home crowd.
ADO are still just three points off the drop zone and with just four games to go, they will need some more points to feel safe. PEC Zwolle stay in ninth place and with their KNVB Beker final appearance, European football beckons next season if or when Ajax finally clinch the championship.
TEAMS
ADO: Coutinho, Wormgoor, Beugelsdijk, Meijers, Zuiverloon, Holla, Gehrt (Kramer 74), Bakker, Van Duinen, Schet (Wildschut 30), Alberg.
SUBS NOT USED: Zwinkels, Kanon, Buwalda, Van Haaren, Cabral.
GOALS: Alberg 42.
BOOKINGS: Beugelsdijk 56, Van Duinen 74, Wormgoor 76.
ZWOLLE: Begois (Ter Wielen 46), Lachman, Van der Werff, Van Hintum, Gravenbeek, Nijland (Benson 84), Drost, Mokotjo, Saymak, Narsingh (Karagounis 57), Fernandez.
SUBS NOT USED: Pereria, Klich, Hiwat, Mahmudov.
GOALS: Van der Werff 20.
BOOKINGS: Saymak 47, Nijland 50.
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