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BETTING TIPS, EREDIVISIE, EREDIVISIE PREVIEW

EREDIVISIE WEEK 22 PREVIEW & BETTING TIPS

February 4, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

After nailing four out of nine games at the weekend, Will Burns is back with his picks for the midweek Eredivisie extravaganza (all nine games) and like all his tips, you will not see a ‘best bet’ under evens – good luck!

Tuesday 4th February

RODA JC vs. FEYENOORD – 17:45

Roda’s last game at Parkstad Limburg Stadion was Jon Dahl Tomasson’s first win as head coach in a 1-0 win over Utrecht. After losing 3-1 at PEC Zwolle on Saturday, they face the tough test of Ronald Koeman’s Feyenoord tomorrow night.

Feyenoord featured in Friday night’s game which was a 1-1 draw against Vitesse that leaves the Koeman’s men seven points off league leaders Ajax. The title race is not out of reach yet and they will look to Italian striker Graziano Pelle to add to his tally of 16 in 19 games this campaign.

I can see Feyenoord being too strong for Roda and at 13/8 at Betfair for the Rotterdam side to be winning at half-time and full-time, it’s too big of a bet to miss.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Feyenoord HT/FT (13/8 – Betfair)

ADO DEN HAAG vs. HERACLES – 18:45

Both sides experienced defeats over the weekend: Heracles at home to NAC Breda and ADO at Heerenveen, with a five points separating them in the league table.

I see this being a close game even though both sides will be itching to get back on track, I see this match finishing as a score draw. For the best bet, take a look at BetVictor’s at 13/5 for this one.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (13/5 – BetVictor)

VITESSE vs. AZ ALKMAAR – 19:45

Tuesday’s main event will be second place Vitesse hosting sixth placed AZ Alkmaar. AZ have proved to be a bit of a jinx for the Arnhem side over the years, with Vitesse failing to find a win in the last eight meetings between the two sides.

Peter Bosz’s side will look to change all that this time round and place a bit of pressure on Ajax, currently two points clear them. A win would take Vitesse ahead of the Amsterdam side, with Ajax yet to play at home to Groningen on Thursday.

AZ will certainly not lay down for Vitesse and it will be a tough test for Bosz’s men. However, AZ has been a little inconsistent with two wins and three defeats from their last five matches played. Look for Vitesse to win this one and let’s take them to win by two clear goals to give us a bit of value.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Vitesse -1 (29/20 – SkyBet)

Wednesday 5th February

SC CAMBUUR vs. PSV – 17:45

After a shocking display at Waalwijk, a 2-0 defeat on Sunday, Philip Cocu needs to pick his side up for the trip to Cambuur on Wednesday evening. With only one win on the road in the last nine games, Cocu has a tough job.

Cambuur on the other hand put in a good showing away to Twente earlier on Sunday, despite running out on the wrong side of a 3-1 scoreline.

PSV are struggling to score goals and as we won on ‘Under 2.5 Goals’ in the RKC game on Sunday, let’s go for it again at 11/10 at Sky Bet. There has been under 2.5 goals in the last four games involving PSV so let’s see if that run will continue.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Under 2.5 Goals (11/10 – SkyBet)

GO AHEAD EAGLES vs. RKC WAALWIJK – 18:45

The impressive Evander Sno hit both goals in RKC’s win over PSV on Sunday and the Waalwijk side will look to build on that victory away to Go Ahead Eagles on Wednesday evening. However, Erwin Koeman’s side has a horrible away record with only two wins in the last 21 trips.

Go Ahead on the other hand has faired well at home this season with only two defeats in ten, and those losses were against the current top two, Vitesse and Ajax. A win for RKC is not unthinkable but I cannot see it happening.

Although the draw on the other hand could, with six draws for the Eagles and seven for RKC already this season I can see them adding to this tally on Wednesday.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (13/5 – Betfred, SkyBet and Bet365)

NEC NIJMEGEN vs. NAC BREDA – 18:45

It is a close league this season with just five points splitting NEC (17th) and NAC (10th). NEC have a great home record this campaign with only losing two out of nine games (to Vitesse and Ajax) since the sacking of Alex Pastoor in September.

In an interesting stat, NEC Nijmegen have not beaten NAC in the last seven meetings between the sides in all competitions so going with the stats, I feel the best bet is a draw.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (11/4 – WilliamHill)

HEERENVEEN vs. FC TWENTE – 19:45

FC Twente are in tremendous form and have only experienced a defeat twice in the Eredivisie this season, both away games to ADO Den Haag and Vitesse.

Heerenveen striker Alfred Finnbogason is also in tremendous form notching an amazing 20 goals in 18 games, which persuade Fulham to offer €10m on transfer deadline day.

With the Icelandic international notching left, right and centre I am unsure that Twente can defeat Heerenveen, but what I can predict is goals!

BURNS’ BEST BET: Over 3.5 Goals (13/5 – BetVictor)

Thursday 6th February

FC UTRECHT vs. PEC ZWOLLE – 17:45

Thursday sees PEC Zwolle travel to a struggling FC Utrecht full of confidence after Sunday’s 3-1 over Roda. While Jan Wouters’s Utrecht halted a run of four successive league defeats with a hard-fought point at home to Ajax, but they still remain five games without a win.

Zwolle look to clinch their third consecutive victory on Thursday but with the tricky Ryan Thomas providing balls for Guyon Fernandez and Mustafa Saymak, I think they could do it this Thursday at the Stadion Galgenwaard.

BURNS’ BEST BET: PEC Zwolle to win (19/10 – Unibet)

AJAX vs. FC GRONINGEN – 19:45

The final game of the Week 22 fixtures sees league leaders Ajax take on the underperforming FC Groningen.

The defending champions have won nine of their last eleven games and kept six clean sheets in their last seven at the Amsterdam ArenA. Do not look past an Ajax win if you are placing an accumulator this week, as I cannot see any other result coming close in this one.

Groningen lost away to AZ by two goals to nil on Saturday and I can see Ajax going one better winning the match 3-0. So let’s end the week with a huge 7/1 tip and good luck!

BURNS’ BEST BET: Ajax to win 3-0 (7/1 – Bet365)

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EREDIVISIE

Week 21 Eredivisie Report – Ajax held, PSV shocked and Twente win

February 2, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

Sunday 2nd February 2014

FC UTRECHT 1-1 AJAX

League leaders Ajax failed to take advantage of Vitesse’s slip-up on Friday with a 1-1 draw on their own against the struggling FC Utrecht.

In Friday night’s game second placed Vitesse were held at fourth placed Feyenoord giving Ajax a chance to extend their lead at the top of Eredivisie. However, Frank de Boer’s side dropped two points at Jan Wouters’ FC Utrecht side who were on a four-game losing streak before kick-off.

The hosts were roared on by the 19,245 inside the Stadion Galgenwaard and they nearly went ahead after just 8 minutes. Right-back Mark van der Maarel surged forward and combined with Stoke City’s Juan Agudelo, who back-heeled the ball back into Van der Maarel’s path who shot over. A minute later, Utrecht had another opportunity though captain Jens Toornstra, after the midfielder had beat Joël Veltman he unfortunately dragged his shot wide.

Ajax got themselves together after the two scares and started creating their own chances and central defender Niclas Moisander came close on 19 minutes. Danish midfielder Lasse Schöne curled a free-kick into the box from the right-wing and the Finnish defender rose above everyone and powered a header towards goal, only for Robbin Ruiter in the Utrecht goal to tip over.

The defending Eredivisie champions took the lead in the 25th minute and it was Daley Blind, the goalscorer. Blind started his career as a left-back but he is really excelling in his new found holding midfielder role and he lashed a low drive into the corner of the goal from 25 yards, the Utrecht crowd was silenced.

Only seven minutes, the scores were tied. Belgian striker Steve de Ridder, formerly of Southampton, deceived the Ajax defence to make it 1-1. A long ball from Ruiter was flicked on by Tommy Oar, the ball fell into the box, De Ridder slipped past Veltman, skipped the ball past Jasper Cillessen and slipped the ball into the empty net.

The Belgian nearly made it two early in the second half with a tremendous volleyed effort that gave Cillessen no chance of saving, but the ball smashed off the crossbar.

Fully aware of Friday’s result in the backs of their mind, Frank de Boer’s men pressed for a winner and on 57 minutes, they should have took the lead. Great link-up play from Thulani Serero and Viktor Fischer, eventually fed Fischer through on goal but the young Dane placed his shot the wrong side of the post.

Ajax had one last chance before the final whistle decided the draw, with Schöne lashing a volley from the right side of area direct from a long ball from Blind, but the midfielder’s effort smashed off the post and away to safety.

De Boer takes his side back to Amsterdam to face Groningen on Thursday night and with Vitesse facing the tough test of AZ Alkmaar on Tuesday, he knows that the champions could have another opportunity to pull away from the chasing pack, and this time the opportunity must not be missed.

TEAMS

UTRECHT: Ruiter, Van der Maarel, Markiet, Delpierre (Badjeck 59), Van der Winden, Ayoub, Sarota, Toornstra, De Ridder (Quesada 76), Oar, Agudelo.

SUBS NOT USED: Verhoeven, Diemers, Bjelica, Klabier, Van Velzen.

GOALS: De Ridder 33.

BOOKINGS: None.

AJAX: Cillessen, Van Rhijn, Veltman, Moisander, Boilesen (Poulsen 50), Blind, Klaassen, Serero, Schöne, Bojan (De Jong 65), Fischer.

SUBS NOT USED: Vermeer, Van der Hoorn, Duarte, Sigthórsson, Ligeon.

GOALS: Blind 25.

BOOKINGS: Van Rhijn.

FC TWENTE 3-1 SC CAMBUUR

FC Twente came from behind to defeat Cambuur 3-1 to further claim third place with a game in hand and just four points off the top of the league. It was a tough game for Michel Jansen’s side especially when Cambuur headed to Enschede full of confidence after turning over Heerenveen 3-1 last weekend.

Last week’s hero for Cambuur, new Nigerian striker Bartholomew Ogbeche controversially won his team a penalty that gave the visitors the lead. Tussling with Rasmus Bengtsson, Ogbeche linked arms with the defender while trying to pull himself back to his feet from a tackle and referee Pol Van Boekel pointed to the spot. Cambuur captain Ramon Leeuwin successful converted the spot-kick on 24 minutes.

Twente pressed for an equaliser with Luc Castaignos coming closest in the first half. Quincy Promes played the 21-year-old through on goal one-on-one with Leonard Nienhuis, but as the striker stretched for the ball he could only poke his effort against the post.

After the break, Twente were pushing the visitors into their own half and within 9 minutes of the restart the scores were level. The inspirational Dušan Tadić placed a right-wing free-kick into the box and Luc Castaignos powered a header past Nienhuis for 1-1.

Six minutes later, on the hour mark Twente had the lead. Tadić played a short corner low into substitute Shadrach Eghan on the edge of the area, the Ghanaian hit a low curling shot that bounced past Nienhuis to make it 2-1.

All three points were clinched 11 minutes from the end with another headed goal, this time Rasmus Bengtsson the scorer. Promes whipped in a corner to the front post and the big Swedish defender nodded home.

Twente now look to continue to their good run of nine games unbeaten away to Heerenveen on Tuesday evening.

TEAMS

TWENTE: Marsman, Rosales, Bengtsson, Bjelland, Schilder (Koppers 56), Promes, Ebecilio, Gutiérrez, Mokhtar (Eghan 59), Tadić, Castaignos (Borven 67).

SUBS NOT USED: Stevens, Djordjevic, Martina, Tapia.

GOALS: Castaignos 54, Eghan 60, Bengtsson 79.

BOOKINGS: Tadić.

CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Van der Laan, Droste, Leeuwin, Van Moorsel (Mulders 61), Ritzmaier, El Makrini (Bakker 76), Ogbeche (Hemmen 61), Manu, Lukoki.

SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Boxel, Pereira, Feldballe.

GOALS: Leeuwin 25.

BOOKINGS: Bijker, Van der Laan, Lukoki.

NEC NIJMEGEN 1-1 GO AHEAD EAGLES

NEC and Go Ahead Eagles shared the points in a poor game, but it was a result that saw the home side lift off the bottom of the Eredivisie standings.

The Nijmegen side will be disappointed not to grab all three points after leading for the majority of the game. They took an early lead with English striker Michael Higdon notching his eighth goal in 16 appearances after just five minutes gone.

Go Ahead did not grab an equalising goal until just before the hour mark with Deniz Türüç smashing home the goal of the weekend from 30 yards out.

TEAMS

NEC: Johnsson, Vermijl, Van Eijden, Haitz, Conboy, Mulder (Foor 61), Rieks, Štefánik (Leiwakabessy 50), Hemlein, Higdon, Jantscher (Jahanbakhsh 73).

SUBS NOT USED: Smits, Nielsen, Gravenberch, Castillion.

GOALS: Higdon 5.

BOOKINGS: Conboy.

GO AHEAD: Ter Mate, Schmidt, Vriends, Van der Linden, Schenk (Haps 78), Overgoor, Falkenburg, Türüç, Antonia (Rijsdijk 89), Kolder, Houtkoop (Godee 86).

SUBS NOT USED: Lucas, Amevor, Lambooij, Pot.

GOALS: Türüç 58.

BOOKINGS: Haps.

RKC WAALWIJK 2-0 PSV

In what has become a bogey ground for PSV, the Mandemakers Stadion has haunted the Eindhoven side again. Former Celtic midfielder Evander Sno hit a double to give Phillip Cocu yet another embarrassing defeat.

It was a case of the same old story for PSV with a total of 8 shots on target and 12 off with no goals. It is strange to say that PSV are struggling to score goals when you think of years past, but with only three goals in the last four goals, Cocu’s side could definitely do with something different up front.

PSV’s most dangerous man was Memphis Depay and he came the closest to scoring throughout, in fact he has 12 shots in total himself, and with only four being off target, that made all PSV’s shots on target being Depay’s.

The Eindhoven dominated with 69% of the possession and the majority coming in the first half, and PSV were unlucky not to be awarded a spot-kick on 23 minutes. Depay again causing trouble in the RKC area, and after he turned Michael Lamey inside out, the defender tugged Depay’s shirt and pulled him down but referee Bas Nijhuis deemed it not to be a foul.

After the interval, it was more of the same for PSV but Cocu had ordered his side to play higher up and it cost them on 54 minutes. Bursting out on the counter attack, Aurelien Joachim and Damiano Schet combined to play in Evander Sno down on the right-wing. The 26-year-old midfielder cut inside, kept his shot low and nutmegged PSV goalie Jeroen Zoet to send the Mandemakers Stadion into raptures.

Philip Cocu brought out attacking pair Zakaria Bakkali and Florian Jozefzoon to try and inject some energy in front of goal but the more PSV attacked, RKC sprung the counter.

It was all over deep into stoppage time when substitute Daniel de Ridder slipped in fellow sub Jean-David Beauguet on the left. The Frenchman pulled the ball back to Sno on the edge of the box who confidently side-footed a first-time effort past Zoet to end the game for PSV.

TEAMS

RKC: Šeda, Lamey, Van Hoevelen, Amieux, Gouano, Anderson (Jungschläger 78), Duits, Sno, Castelen (De Ridder 72), Schet, Joachim (Beauguel 88).

SUBS NOT USED: Van Dijk, Ivens, Tavares, Apau.

GOALS: Sno 54, 90.

BOOKINGS: Lamey.

PSV: Zoet, Willems, Rekik, Bruma, Arias, Maher (Bakkali 76), Schaars, Park, Depay, Locadia, Narsingh (Jozefzoon 76)

SUBS NOT USED: Tyton, Zanka Jørgensen, Brenet, Hiljemark, Hendrix.

GOALS: None.

BOOKINGS: None.

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of FIFA.com

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BETTING TIPS, EREDIVISIE, EREDIVISIE PREVIEW

EREDIVISIE WEEK 21 PREVIEW – Sunday

February 1, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

Sunday brings another four games in the Eredivisie and Will Burns is back with his picks and like all his tips, you will not see a ‘best bet’ under evens – good luck!

Sunday 2nd February

FC UTRECHT vs. AJAX – 11:30

Utrecht face the league leaders Ajax in a fight to end a horrible run that could now stretch to five consecutive defeats. It may an impossible task for Jan Wouters side as Ajax have proved this season to be defensively sound, keeping six clean sheets in their last eight games.

With the amount of injuries that Utrecht have, especially the attacking options, I cannot see Ajax not winning this one and by big margin. The best bet is along at PaddyPower.com and will be Ajax to win by 2 goals.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Ajax -1 (11/10 – PaddyPower)

FC TWENTE vs. SC CAMBUUR – 13:30

SC Cambuur’s confidence will be oozing heading into Enschede on Sunday afternoon after two successive wins in the Eredivisie. They aim for a third for the first time ever in their history, however, they will face a tough test against Twente, whose recent home form has tremendous.

Michel Jansen’s side are undefeated in their last ten games, including winning their last three, hitting the net 11 times and conceding just four.

Twente need to win by three clear goals for our bet to come in and I can see Quincy Promes, Luc Castaignos and Dusan Tadic have a field day of chances come Sunday afternoon.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Twente -2 (15/8 – Bet365)

NEC vs. GO AHEAD EAGLES – 13:30

Go Ahead Eagles have lost six of their last seven away matches in the league as NEC Nijmegen have won their last three home matches in Eredivisie. So everyone must be expecting a NEC win?! Not exactly.

My tip in this one is a draw. NEC fought hard to gain a draw away to second placed Vitesse last weekend, as Go Ahead were unlucky not to clinch a point in the 2-1 defeat at home to Ajax.

Eagles new goalkeeper Stephan Andersen will make his debut in replace for Eloy Room who returned back to parent club Vitesse earlier this week.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (3/1 – Betfair, BetVictor & Bet365)

RKC WAALWIJK vs. PSV – 15:30

Apart from the long-term injury to Georginio Wijnaldum, Phillip Cocu has a full strength team heading to Waalwijk to face RKC in the final game of Week 21.

I can see PSV grabbing a narrow win in this one, but do not except many goals. In the last three games there has been under three goals in their last three games. They defeated AZ at home last weekend in a 1-0 win, defeated by Ajax the previous week by the same scoreline and before the winter break, overcoming ADO at the Philips Stadion 2-0.

On the other hand, RKC have drew their last three games at the Mandemakers Stadion and will look to stifle the PSV attack, which obviously works in our tips favour.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Under 2.5 Goals (5/4 – Ladbrokes)

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EREDIVISIE

Week 20 Eredivisie Report – Vitesse held, Ajax clear at the top

January 27, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

SUNDAY 26TH JANUARY 2014

Week 20 closed with just three games on Sunday as the Groningen-Twente match failed to take place due to a frozen pitch. The games that did go ahead provided great excitement and two more shock results to close the round of games.

SC CAMBUUR 3-1 HEERENVEEN

SC Cambuur provided their fans with a good day on Sunday with their first win in the Friese Derby since 1994.

Nigerian forward Bartholomew Ogbeche stole the show making his debut for Cambuur, creating one and scoring in the fantastic win. The hosts warmed up their fans in the Cambuur Stadion on a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon in Leeuwarden with a goal after just four minutes.

The goal was created by a long ball from the back of the Cambuur defence, Ogbeche rose above Joey van der Berg with ease to flick the ball into the path of on-loan striker Elvis Manu. Manu overpowered Christian Kum to win the ball and chip the ball over the onrushing Kristoffer Nordfeldt. The stadium erupted as Manu and Ogbeche wheeled away to celebrate with a dance at the corner flag.

Marco van Basten’s men should have equalized on 16 minutes by Leonard Nienhuis pulled off a great save to deny Hakim Ziyech. After Luciano Slagveer crossed from Ziyech just outside the area, Ziyech let fly with a right-foot volley but Nienhuis got across a tipped it out for a corner.

Just before the half-time whistle, Cambuur’s lead was doubled. Heerenveen’s on-loan defender Mitchell Dijks was penalised for a soft foul on Ajax team-mate Jody Lukoki, currently on-loan to Cambuur. The free-kick was given on the right-wing and Marcel Ritzmaier, also on-loan from PSV Eindhoven, whipped the ball into the centre. Once again, winning the aerial duel was Bartholomew Ogbeche who slipped Ramon Zoner to make it 2-0.

Heerenveen came out for the second half hungry for an early goal but they were unable to cope with the speed of the Cambuur attack and with just twenty minutes to go, the home side wrapped up the points. Manu slipped a defence-splitting ball through to Jody Lukoki who beat the offside trap and raced through on goal. With a one-on-one challenge with Nordfeldt, the 21-year-old kept his composure and finished coolly. The game was done and Dwight Lodeweges could be proud of his team’s performance today.

Before the final whistle could be blown, the inevitable happened as Alfred Finnbogason got a consolation goal for Heerenveen, his 19th goal in 17 games. However, it was an embarrassing defeat for Van Basten and his side and will look to bounce back next week at home to ADO. They now sit fifth and six points of fourth place. Meanwhile, for Cambuur the win lifts them up to 13th but they will need to build on this win to climb out of the relegation battle as Lodeweges men are still only three points off bottom side NEC.

TEAMS

CAMBUUR: Nienhuis, Droste, Van der Laan, Bijker, El Makrini, Van Moorsel, Leeuwin, Ritzmaier, Lukoki, Ogbeche (Barto 74), Manu (Manu 91).

SUBS NOT USED: Zeinstra, Van Boxel, Pereira, Bakker, Van Brakel.

GOALS: Manu 4, Ogbeche 44, Lukoki 69.

BOOKINGS: Lukoki

HEERENVEEN: Nordfeldt, Van Anholt, Dijks, Zomer (Sinkgraven 59), Kum, De Roon, Van den Berg (De Kamps 74), Ziyech, Slagveer (Wildschut 57), Finnbogason, Basacikoglu.

SUBS NOT USED: Vandenbussche, Otigba, Marzo, Fazli.

GOALS: Finnbogason 85.

BOOKINGS: Basacikoglu, Finnbogason.

VITESSE 1-1 NEC NIJMEGEN

Vitesse’s title hopes suffered a bitter blow as they were held at home against relegation candidates NEC in the Gelderse derby.

Vitesse stay second after the draw but it looked promising early on for the Arnhem side after taking the lead on the half hour mark. Star of last week’s win over PEC Zwolle, Christian Atsu whipped in a corner that found defender Dan Mori in the box who headed home past Karl-Johan Johnsson in goal.

The basement boys NEC should have levelled the game up before the interval, after they pressed and had Vitesse on the ropes for the remaining ten minutes of the half.

Vitesse failed to score another and paid the price with just twenty minutes to go. Danish forward Søren Rieks spun in a cross that the Vitesse defence failed to clear and Englishman Michael Higdon notched to tie the game.

The GelreDome crowd went home unhappy and even more so that title rivals Ajax defeated Go Ahead Eagles a few hours later.

TEAMS

VITESSE: Velthuizen, Mori, Van Aanholt, Leerdam, Van der Heijden, Pröpper, Vejinovic, Piazón (Traoré 68), Atsu, Ibarra (Labyad 78), Havenaar.

SUBS NOT USED: Houwen, Achenteh, Van der Struijk, Đurđević, Kazaishvili.

GOALS: Mori 30.

BOOKINGS: None.

NEC: Johnsson, Conboy (Leiwakabessy 77), Van Eijden, Haitz, Vermeijl, Rieks (Foor 65), Koolwijk, Štefánik (Mulder 88), Jantscher, Hemlein, Higdon.

SUBS NOT USED: Smits, Cmovs, Disveld, Castillion.

GOALS: Higdon 71.

BOOKINGS: Van Eijden.

GO AHEAD EAGLES 0-1 AJAX

Ajax struggled to find their finishing in Deventer on Sunday afternoon but a narrow 1-0 win means that they stay top of the pile.

As expected Ajax dominated in the early stages and should have taken the lead after just three minutes, if it were not for a shocking Kolbeinn Sigthórsson miss. Frank de Boer has his head in his hands after Bojan and Davy Klaassen had worked well to head the ball onto the Icelandic striker, but he fired his volley from just a few yards out straight in Eloy Room’s arms.

Ajax’s pressure was relentless but like Sigthórsson, Bojan, Klaassen and Lesley De Sa’s finishing was poor and unable to break the deadlock. Against the run of play, Go Ahead could have gone ahead themselves. Joël Veltman failed to head clear a Jarchinio Antonia cross from the right-wing but the defender got himself in front of Jeffrey Rijsdijk’s attempt to concede a corner.

The first-half petered out and ended goal-less but Ajax fired out of the blocks and were angry that they were not awarded a penalty after 51 minutes. Antonia bundled Klaassen over on the left side of the area, but referee Reinold Wiedemeijer booked the Ajax midfielder for diving, and the majority of the 7,938 attendance were cheering the decision.

De Boer needed a goal and quick and just after the hour mark injected some fresh legs into the attack with the double Dane substitution of Lasse Schöne and Viktor Fischer on for De Sa and the poor Sigthórsson. Within a minute, Fischer nearly opened the scoring but his header from a Klaassen cross forced a save from Room.

The goal finally came on 74 minutes and it was the other substitution that broke the deadlock. After Ajax were awarded a free-kick outside the area courtesy of a Deniz Türüç handball, Lasse Schöne stood up to take it. The Danish midfielder fired his first attempt in the wall but after the rebound returned in his path, his low drive was too powerful for Room to stop and nestle into the corner of the goal.

Ajax held on for the win and due to Vitesse being held by NEC, now sit two points at the top of the Eredivisie league table.

TEAMS

GO AHEAD: Room, Schmidt, Vriends, Van der Linden, Schenk, Overgoor (Amevor 84), Rijsdijk (Lambooij 68), Türüç, Antonia (Kavak 91), Houtkoop, Kolder.

SUBS NOT USED: Cummins, Pot, Oostinjen, Ten Den.

GOALS: None

BOOKINGS: Schmidt, Kolder.

AJAX: Cillessen, Van Rhijn, Veltman, Moisander, Boilesen, Blind, Serero (Poulsen 86), Klaassen, De Sa (Fischer 65), Sigthórsson (Schöne 66), Bojan.

SUBS NOT USED: Vermeer, Duarte, Hoesen, Denswil.

GOALS: Schöne 74.

BOOKINGS: Klaassen.

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of FIFA.com

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BETTING TIPS, EREDIVISIE, EREDIVISIE PREVIEW

EREDIVISIE WEEK 20 PREVIEW – Sunday

January 24, 2014 Will Burns 1 Comment

Sunday 26th January

SC CAMBUUR vs. HEERENVEEN – 11:30

Last weekend, in the battle of the promoted sides, Cambuur pulled out a great 2-0 win against Go Ahead Eagles, meanwhile, Marco van Basten’s Heerenveen were unlucky not get the win in their 2-2 home draw with Roda JC.

Sunday should prove to be a totally different story for both sides. With Heerenveen’s attack triple threat of Hakim Ziyech, Bilal Basacikoglu and the Icelandic goal machine Alfred Finnbogason, this game promises to deliver goals. Heerenveen have proved this season to have great days away from home, and are undefeated in their last four league games.

Cambuur will find it hard to cope with the speed of Ziyech and Basacikoglu and trying to make sure Finnbogason does not score is also not easy after hitting the net 18 times in just 16 games so far this season. Look for Alfred to come up trumps once again, and lead his team to victory.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Heerenveen to win (8/5 – Betfair)

VITESSE vs. NEC NIJMEGEN – 11:30

NEC Nijmegen head to Vitesse on Sunday morning failing to win their last FOURTEEN away in the league, and since Vitesse have won seven of their last eight games, I think you can see where this prediction is going.

Even though he missed a penalty last week, whether he scoring or creating, on-loan superstar Lucas Piazón is on fire. The Brazilian is hitting real form for the Arnhem and combining plays with fellow Chelsea player Christian Atsu has fired Vitesse up to second, joint on points with leaders Ajax.

NEC have conceded at least two goals in their four away league matches so my best bet for this one is Vitesse to win by two or more goals, which is a cracking 8/5 at Bet365.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Vitesse to win by 2 goals or more (8/5 – Bet365)

FC GRONINGEN vs. FC TWENTE – 13:30

Sitting in third, FC Twente are in fine form finding all three points in five of their last six games. In all those matches, Twente have been winning the game at half-time and full-time also.

Dušan Tadić, a contender for player of the season, is leading the charge with Twente searching for their second Eredivisie championship. His creativity, along with the speed and attacking prowess of young winger Quincy Promes, supplying striker Luc Castaignos is causing trouble for all Eredivisie defences.

Groningen sit nine points beneath Twente in sixth place and have only won one game in their last six, losing two. I can’t see past Twente taking all three points here and applying a little pressure to the leading pack.

BURNS’ BEST BET: FC Twente HT/FT (2/1 – BetVictor)

GO AHEAD EAGLES vs. AJAX – 13:30

The hottest team in the league are the Eredivisie leaders Ajax, with their winning streak now up to seven matches. Apart from the influential Siem de Jong, the Amsterdammers are at full strength and after overcoming a tough first half against rivals PSV last week, they travel to Deventer to face Go Ahead.

This will be no easy feat for Ajax either with the Eagles undefeated at home in the last three games including the last two winning against PEC Zwolle and Utrecht.

With Vitesse hot on their tail, Ajax need to keep racking up the wins and I cannot see this game ending their winning streak.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Ajax HT/FT (11/10 – BetVictor)

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KNVB CUP

KNVB Beker Quarter-Finals Report – Final four decided

January 22, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

The semi-finalists have been determines tonight, with PEC Zwolle, NEC Nijmegen and Ajax joining defending champions AZ Alkmaar in the final four.

Wednesday 22nd January

PEC ZWOLLE 5-1 JVC CUIJK

PEC Zwolle hit Topklasse side JVC Cuijk with a 5-1 scoreline that could have been a lot more if Ron Jans’ side had finished their chances.

Dominating from the kick off, Zwolle were ahead inside three minutes. Two defenders got on the scoresheet for the Eredivisie side. Left-back Bart van Hintum curled home in a free kick from the edge of the area and central defender Maikel van der Werff doubled the lead in the 16th minute.

Joris van Gerwen made it three on 19 minutes and Zwolle took their foot off the gas for the remainder of the first half.

On the hour mark, Macedonian striker Denis Mahmudov got the fourth and fifth goals with Kevin van Veen’s consulation goal sandwiched in between.

NEC NIJMEGEN 1-0 FC UTRECHT

Struggling in the Eredivisie, NEC Nijmegen are into the final four of the Dutch cup with a close 1-0 win at home to FC Utrecht.

The only goal of the game came after just seven minutes when Marnick Vermijl (on loan from Manchester United) met a Søren Rieks ball from the right wing and the Belgian slid the ball home.

AJAX 3-1 FEYENOORD

Ajax are favourites to lift their 19th KNVB Beker after disposing of Feyenoord 3-1 at the Amsterdam Arena this evening.

The visitors took the lead after just six minutes, winger Jean-Paul Boëtius the goalscorer. After Lex Immers played Tonny Vilhena through on goal, recalled Ajax goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer rushed out and totally mistimed his challenge on Vilhena. The young Feyenoord playmaker attempted to chip the ‘keeper but the ball did not have enough pace to creep over the line, so Boëtius arrived to poke home.

Young Danish forward Viktor Fischer notched the equaliser on 34 minutes after a beautiful defence splitting ball from Daley Blind. The ball through played Fischer onside and one-on-one with Erwin Mulder, the Dane chipped the goalkeeper which allowed Daryl Janmaat to get back to challenge. Fischer persisted and eventually placed the ball home before Mulder got back on his line.

Bojan Krcic nodded home a second for Ajax on 68 minutes after Mulder had parried a Lasse Schöne header from Blind’s cross from the left. South African midfielder Thulani Serero grabbed a third in injury time to cement the win for the Amsterdammers.

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EREDIVISIE

Week 19 Eredivisie Report – Ajax & Vitesse stay top

January 19, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

The Eredivisie season resumed this weekend after the winter break and Ajax and Vitesse began their new year with wins to keep them atop of the pile in the Dutch top flight.

The final game of the weekend was the world famous De Klassieker but in all fairness it was a bit of a letdown. Ajax ran out winners against PSV keeping Frank de Boer’s side on top of the division on goal difference. The visitors dominated the opening half, with Ajax on the back foot with left winger Memphis Depay shining the brightest, giving the Ajax defence a torrid time. The young Depay nearly gave Phillip Cocu’s men the lead on 26 minutes with a cute touch that crept just wide after Adam Maher had whipped in the ball.

Two minutes earlier, Jürgen Locadia should have given the Eindhoven side the advantage. Locadia arrive into box on the right, and the on-loan Bryan Ruiz placed him in with a lovely deft chip, but the striker sent his shot inches wide.

With Ajax being forced into their own half for the majority of the first 45 minutes, they relied heavily on the counter attack. After the interval, the hosts came out fighting and on 64 minutes they took the lead and it was an excellent goal. A long ball out of defence from Niclas Moisander found Lasse Schöne on the right-wing Schöne, with fantastic technique hit a first time volleyed cross into the box, where Kolbeinn Sigthórsson nodded past Jeroen Zoet for 1-0.

The goal de-motivated the young PSV side and Ajax pressed for a second, but despite efforts from Davy Klaassen and Viktor Fischer they failed to add to their score. PSV’s title challenge is dust and dusted, if it was not already, as Ajax sit joint top with Vitesse, who defeated PEC Zwolle 2-1 on Saturday evening.

It was an eventful first half with Vitesse a goal ahead after in the third minute. Ghanaian on-loan star Christian Atsu twisted and turned through the Zwolle defence, before sliding the ball home past the helpless Diederik Boer. The visitors were not in the lead for long as Guyon Fernandez notched his fifth goal of the season on ten minutes. Then three minutes later, Vitesse winger Renato Ibarra was tripped in the area, but Lucas Piazón could not place the penalty past Boer. Another Chelsea loanee sealed the win for Vitesse in injury time, with Patrick van Aanholt striding up the field from the left wing to fire home.

On Friday, FC Twente defeated local rivals Heracles by three goals to one in the Derby of the East. Quincy Promes continued his great form firing Twente in the lead halfway through the first half and Luc Castaignos doubled the advantage before the hour mark. The visitors were down to ten-men when defender Jeroen Veldmate was shown the red card but Mark Uth gave Heracles some hope when he scored on 76 minutes with a tremendous solo effort. The points were clinched with minutes to go when Luka Đorđević was brought down by Thomas Bruns and Dušan Tadić converted the spot kick.

Twente are up to 37 points with Feyenoord a point behind them in fourth. Ronald Koeman’s men showed they are still challenging for the championship thumping FC Utrecht 5-2 at the Stadion Galgenwaard on Sunday afternoon. Five goals were shared in a crazy first half and it was the hosts that took the lead when Jens Toornstra capitalised on Jordy Clasie’s mistake on 12 minutes. Feyenoord equalised four minutes later when Ruben Schaken turned in Tonny Vilhena’s shot. The best goal of the game gave the visitors the lead when Italian hitman Graziano Pellè delivered a back-heeled flick to Schaken’s cross from the right. Utrecht levelled the game up when Toornstra notched again on 22 minutes, but Feyenoord went into the break with the goal advantage with a Stefan de Vrij header. Schaken got his second on 72 minutes with Vilhena scoring the fifth with a minute to go.

Heerenveen stay in fifth place despite being held to 2-2 draw on Saturday evening with Roda JC, now managed by Jon Dahl Tomasson. Tomasson will be happy with the away point, especially when he would have feared the worst when Hakim Ziyech put Heerenveen ahead on 12 minutes. The teams went into half-time level, as Guus Hupperts’ cross was fired home by Hungarian striker Krisztián Németh. Alfred Finnbogason notched his 18th of the season after Kees Luijckx blocked the Icelandic striker in the area and Finnbogason stepped up to convert for 2-1. However, Roda did not give up and Hupperts scored the equalising goal with a great show of speed and finishing. The 21-year-old overpowered Christian Kum down the right-wing and hit a wonderful outside of the boot finish from an acute angle to score. Tomasson will look to Hupperts in the coming months to help in the relegation fight.

FC Groningen were unlucky to be held by RKC Waalwijk to a 1-1 draw on Saturday evening, with Michael de Leeuw giving Groningen the lead on the half-hour mark. However, the visitors were reduced to ten-men when debutant Hans Hateboer was shown red for a foul RKC’s Remy Amieux. RKC snatched the draw with an 89-minute Evander Sno penalty after Maikel Kieftenbeld was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area.

Also on Saturday, AZ Alkmaar defeated NAC Breda 3-0. Steven Berghuis scored a brace along with Aron Johansson goal to help AZ climb to seventh place on 27 points.

ADO Den Haag now prop up the league in 18th after suffering a 3-1 defeat away to NEC Nijmegen. Kevin Conboy hit two alongside a Marnick Vermijl effort while a Danny Holla penalty replied for Den Haag. The win meant that NEC leapfrogged ADO into 17th.

Finally, in a battle of the promoted side, SC Cambuur turned over Go Ahead Eagles by two goals to nil, with Marcel Ritzmaier scoring the best goal of the weekend. In the 18th minute, the midfielder, on-loan from PSV hit a spectacular effort from 30 yards out straight past Eloy Room in the Eagles’ goal. Martijn Barto added a second to see Cambuur rise up to 14th while Go Ahead are four points better in 10th.

RESULTS

FC Twente 3-1 Heracles

AZ Alkmaar 3-0 NAC Breda

PEC Zwolle 1-2 Vitesse

RKC Waalwijk 1-1 FC Groningen

Heerenveen 2-2 Roda JC

NEC Nijmegen 3-1 ADO Den Haag

SC Cambuur 2-0 Go Ahead Eagles

FC Utrecht 2-5 Feyenoord

Ajax 1-0 PSV

STANDINGS

League table courtesy of FIFA.com

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE WEEKS 7 & 8 ROUND-UP

September 29, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

As our head writer Will Burns was away on holiday the past two weekends he was unable to keep up on the Eredivisie reports. He returns with a quick round-up of the past two matchdays in the Dutch top flight.

The new leaders in the division are PSV Eindhoven on the back of a huge 4-0 win over fierce rivals Ajax. Frank de Boer’s defending champions tasted their biggest defeat on their since April 2009 when PSV put six past them. After a goal-less first half it was not until 53 mins when the floodgates opened. Slovenian striker Tim Matavz opened the floodgates in the 53rd minute following a mistake by Amsterdam goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer and then Jetro Willems, Oscar Hiljemark and Park Ji-Sung struck in rapid succession to finish off the visitors. It was a bad week for de Boer who suffered a heavy 4-0 defeat in the Nou Camp against Barcelona the previous Wednesday.

The weekend after, the Eindhoven suffered their first defeat of the Eredivisie season losing 2-1 away to AZ Alkmaar. The league leaders fell behind in the 21st minute when an unmarked Nick Viergever headed in from a corner kick. Memphis Depay went close to levelling the score five minutes later, he fired a strike wide, via the fingertips of the keeper. However, Depay was not to be denied the equaliser, with the 19-year-old on target in the 35th minute with a wonderfully hit free-kick. However, the hosts went ahead in the 57th minute, through a stunning strike from Aron Johannsson. PSV remain top despite the defeat as AZ move up to third in the table.

After receiving the thumping from PSV on matchday 7, Ajax dished out a demolition of their own hitting Go Ahead Eagles for six. De Boer’s side desperately needed a response after their 4-0 mauling and duly delivered a morale-boosting performance. Like a week earlier, Ajax went into the break goal-less but a 48th-minute Jop van der Linden own goal opening the scoring. Young winger Lesley De Sa made it two in the 50th minute while Icelandic striker Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s quickfire brace complete a spell of four goals in five minutes. It was 5-0 when Lerin Duarte fired home in the 64th minute while Siem De Jong completed the scoring with 21 minutes remaining as Ajax moved into second place, level on 14 points with PEC Zwolle, who were held to a 0-0 draw at home to NAC Breda.

A week earlier Zwolle had slumped to a second successive defeat, going down 3-0 at Vitesse. On-loan Chelsea attacker Lucas Piazon scored twice for the Arnhem side, with his goals in the 35th and 88th minutes sandwiching a strike from Kelvin Leerdam.

Feyenoord continued their improved form with a 1-0 home win over FC Utrecht, Tonny Vilhena netting the only goal 10 minutes before half-time, while NAC Breda beat AZ Alkmaar 3-0. Danny Verbeek, Rydell Poepon and Elson Hooi all struck second-half goals for NAC who have now won back-to-back matches and scored eight times in the process having started the season with three defeats and two draws.

WEEK 7 RESULTS

Friday 20th September

GO AHEAD EAGLES 0-0 CAMBUUR

Saturday 21st September

HERACLES 0-3 FC TWENTE

FC GRONINGEN 4-1 RKC WAALWIJK

ADO DEN HAAG 1-1 NEC NIJMEGEN

RODA JC 3-3 HEERENVEEN

Sunday 22nd September

VITESSE 3-0 PEC ZWOLLE

FEYENOORD 1-0 FC UTRECHT

NAC BREDA 3-0 AZ ALKMAAR

PSV EINDHOVEN 4-0 AJAX

WEEK 8 RESULTS

Saturday 28th September

AZ ALKMAAR 2-1 PSV EINDHOVEN

RKC WAALWIJK 1-4 HERACLES

FC UTRECHT 3-3 RODA JC

PEC ZWOLLE 0-0 NAC BREDA

AJAX 6-0 GO AHEAD EAGLES

Sunday 29th September

NEC NIJMEGEN 2-3 VITESSE

HEERENVEEN 2-1 CAMBUUR

FEYENOORD 4-2 ADO DEN HAAG

FC TWENTE 5-0 FC GRONINGEN

STANDINGS

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Sunday 15th September 2013

September 15, 2013 Will Burns 1 Comment

WEEK 6 – Sunday 15th September 2013

It was a case of goals galore once again in the Eredivisie as an amazing total of TWENTY-FOUR goals were seen over the day’s five games.

NEC NIJMEGEN 3-3 FEYENOORD

A late Feyenoord equaliser from defender Bruno Martins Indi deprived NEC Nijmegen of their first win of the season, which saw Ronald Koeman’s side flee with a 3-3 draw.

The hosts nearly broke the deadlock but English striker Michael Higdon, still trying to find his feet in the Eredivisie, could not defeat Feyenoord goalkeeper Erwin Mulder in a one-on-one challenge.

The scoring began in the 26th minute as Lex Immers as he headed home a Ruben Schaken cross, however, it was 1-1 five minutes later.

Slovakian midfielder Samuel Štefánik, a new signing from Slovak side FK AS Trenčín on deadline day, caused Koeman’s defence lots of problems all afternoon and grabbed the equaliser. After Mulder parried the Slovak’s initial shot, but after the Feyenoord failed to clear the rebound, Štefánik poked the ball home.

The teams went into the break tied at a goal a piece but Feyenoord emerged the side looking more likely to go on to win the game. The game could have been dead and buried if the usually prolific Graziano Pellè had not crashed two shots off the woodwork early in the second period.

Feyenoord did go 2-1 up on the hour mark, young winger Jean-Paul Boëtius, playing his first game since March, scored after Immers played him through on goal, but that lead only lasted two minutes this time.

Once again it was some shocking defending from the Rotterdam side, as Mulder flapped at a Kevin Conboy free-kick and Feyenoord failed to clear as Icelandic midfielder Victor Palsson was free to tap in the leveller.

On 77 minutes, NEC took a shock lead, with Štefánik scoring his second goal of the game. A surging run forward by Søren Rieks, found Conboy down the left and he crossed for the Slovak midfielder to volley home with a powerful drive. A great debut for the 21-year-old Slovak.

For the remainder of the game, the Nijmegen side had to deal with a Feyenoord barrage but unfortunately for the home side Martins Indi was on hand to finally prod home a Boëtius cross in the final minute of the game.

Neither, Ronald Koeman or Anton Janssen, will be pleased with the point after leading the match.

AZ ALKMAAR 3-0 GO AHEAD EAGLES

AZ clipped Go Ahead Eagles’ wings on Sunday afternoon with a 3-0 win at the AFAS Stadion to end a three-game winless streak in all competitions.

Aron Jóhannsson scored a 31st minute penalty to put Gertjan Verbeek’s side ahead. The goal ended a personal three-game drought for Jóhannsson.

Eagles held their own but strikers in stoppage-time from Viktor Elm and Steven Berghuis cemented the win for AZ.

HEERENVEEN 4-2 FC GRONINGEN

Marco van Basten’s Heerenveen have climbed to third in the Eredivisie, thanks to a 4-2 win over Groningen, helped by two goals from Icelandic striker Alfred Finnbogason. It was a great game to watch at the Abe Lenstra Stadion, but marred by terrible refereeing decisions by Danny Makkelie.

The referee made his mark on 11 minutes, giving a straight red to Groningen’s Timo Letschert a wild challenge. The tackle was wild, but the defender never left his feet in a 50-50 challenge with Luciano Slagveer. Slagveer jumped over the tackle and flipped over but Makkelie instead of giving a yellow card gave Letschert a red, and the visitors were in a real battle to gain something out of the game.

Within twenty minutes, the game was levelled out with both teams ending up with just ten men a piece. Giliano Wijnaldum entered the box to challenge Heerenveen’s on-loan defender Mitchell Dijks to a ball from Tjaronn Chery’s cross. Dijks slipped as Wijnaldum advanced on goal, but the defender grabbed the Groningen mans legs and brought him down for a penalty. Dijks was sent off and Nick van der Velden cheekily chipped home the spot-kick. Makkelie got his decision right this time round.

In the second half, Heerenveen began to up their search for an equaliser and in the 52nd minute, Yanic Wildschut found it. Rajiv van la Parra was determined to swing the ball in from the left and once he had beat Wijnaldum and whipped the ball in, the green shirts failed to clear. The ball feel to Wildschut on the back post who blasted a volley off the underside of the bar and into the net.

Heerenveen went in for the kill and scored a second just three minutes later, as Hungarian defender Kenny Otigba powerfully headed in a Magnus Eikrem inswinging corner past goalkeeper Marco Bizot.

The home side were not in control for long as sixty seconds later, Johan Kappelhof grabbed an equaliser. It was a cleverly worked free-kick from the left wing, as Van der Velden fired a low ball to the back post where Kappelhof was arriving unmarked to fire home via a deflection off Otigba’s boot.

After Bizot brought down Van la Parra in the area on 72 minutes, Finnbogason stepped up, converted the spot-kick and inside the final minute, Finnbogason put the icing on the cake and made sure of all three points. This takes his personal tally to eight in five games. An amazing feat this early in the season and no wonder he is wanted by some of Europe’s top clubs. Heerenveen will face a struggle to keep the Icelander at the club this coming winter.

The referee cards were not finished after 79 minutes he gave Chery his marching orders for a slight tussle in the box with Marten de Roon. It was a second yellow card for the Groningen winger but it was pure handbags by himself and De Roon, and the Heerenveen midfielder was not shown a card for his efforts in the battle.

Groningen’s head coach Erwin van de Looi had stated he will complain to the KNVB about the decisions that Makkelie made and will be appealing Letschert’s red card.

RODA JC 1-5 NAC BREDA

In a shock win, NAC Breda thumped five past Roda JC to grab their first victory of the season.

Roda dominated the first period and actually took the lead just before the half-time whistle, when Mitchell Donald nodded in an excellent Mark Hocher ball from the right. However, the sides went into the interval level as Kees Kwakman headed home a Jordy Buijs free-kick.

The team talk Nebojša Gudelj must have gave his side worked as they arrived back onto the pitch and scored four goals in 25 minutes.

On 67 minutes, substitute Elson Hay poked home at the back post from a Mats Seuntjens sliding ball from the right byline. It was 3-1 just minutes later, as Seuntjes nipped in and stole the ball from Donald. The striker found himself through on goal and coolly finished past goalkeeper Filip Kurto.

Just a minute later, Roda’s day was over as they were reduced to ten men when Frank Demouge was dismissed for a high boot on Buijs. Yet another harsh sending off in the Eredivisie today.

With four minutes remaining, the Roda goal was breached again with Croatian Stipe Perica, on-loan from Chelsea making it four.

As the stadium emptied, Jeffrey Sarpong made it five, two minutes later.

FC UTRECHT 2-1 RKC WAALWIJK

In the final game of the weekend, FC Utrecht got back to winning ways with a narrow 2-1 over RKC Waalwijk.

Steve de Ridder, a recent signing from Southampton, scored two first goals before a Remy Amieux free-kick gave RKC a second-half consolation.

STANDINGS

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Friday 30th August 2013

August 30, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

WEEK 5 – Friday 30th August 2013

Week five of the Eredivisie season began with NAC Breda and NEC Nijmegen battling to gain their first win of the season.

NAC BREDA 1-1 NEC NIJMEGEN

However it was a very even game between the Eredivisie’s bottom sides finished with a deserved 1-1 draw, with new NEC coach Anton Janssen happy with the point.

After the dismissal of Alex Pastoor, following three heavy defeats a fortnight ago, NEC appointed former player Janssen as his permanent successor earlier this week. Janssen takes over from goalkeeping coach Wilfried Brookhuis, who was the cartetaker coach of last weekend’s 2-2 draw at RKC Waalwijk.

The hosts gained an early advantage after just four minutes of play. A whipping ball placed into the penalty area fell into the path of striker Rydell Poepon, who will never score an easier goal to make it 1-0.

Janssen, would have watched his new side ship five goals in their previous away game at PSV Eindhoven on the TV and the new coach would have feared the worst. But, Icelandic midfielder Victor Palsson, earned them a point with his 43rd-minute goal. It was a beautiful first-time effort after collecting Navarone Foor’s pass, chipping goalkeeper Jelle ten Rouwelaar from outside the area.

REMAINDER OF WEEK 5 FIXTURES

SATURDAY 31ST AUGUST

FC TWENTE vs. HEERENVEEN

HERACLES vs. ADO DEN HAAG

RKC WAALWIJK vs. GO AHEAD EAGLES

PSV vs. SC CAMBUUR

SUNDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER

FC GRONINGEN vs. AJAX

PEC ZWOLLE vs. FC UTRECHT

AZ ALKMAAR vs. VITESSE

FEYENOORD vs. RODA JC

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Saturday 24th August 2013

August 25, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

WEEK 4 – Saturday 24th August 2013

PEC Zwolle sit top of the Eredivisie standings with their fourth win in four as Ji-Park Sung, on his league debut scored a late equaliser to keep PSV’s undefeated run in tact.

NEC NIJMEGEN 2-2 RKC WAALWIJK

Managerless NEC Nijmegen nearly clinched their first win of the season through two Michael Higdon spot-kicks but two second-half goals in seven minutes provided a comeback for RKC Waalwijk to share the points.

Alex Pastoor was dismissed on Monday and life without him began with two first-half penalties from Englishman Michael Higdon. Scouser Higdon, was the top scorer in the Scottish Premier League last season with Motherwell, was also named PFA Scotland Players’ Player of the Year because of his accomplishments.

A third penalty of the game gave RKC a lifeline midway through the second period, Sander Duits blasting the spot-kick high into the goal.

With twenty minutes remaining RKC were level. Luxembourg international Aurélien Joachim scoring with a wonderful looping header, from an Ingo van Weert cross deep from the right.

The points were shared and NEC will look this week to replace Pastoor with a new head coach.

HERACLES 1-1 PSV

Incredibly unlucky not to grab all three, Heracles gained a fantastic point against PSV, who looked to be suffering from a Champions League hangover.

Six minutes into the play Heracles scored their goal. PSV’s left-winger Memphis Depay knocked the ball too far out of his control near the edge of his own area and Kwame Quansah dove in and won the ball. Lerin Duarte, controlled the ball and curled it home on the edge of the box past the diving Jeroen Zoet. A great finish.

Depay almost made amends to his mistake on 11 minutes with a trademark long-range free-kick that forced a great scrambling save from Remko Pasveer.

Phillip Cocu’s men looked jaded and sloppy and it was the unfavoured hosts that looked more likely to score the next goal. Bryan Linssen, who scored a wonderful volleyed goal last week, went close with a free-kick of his own on 20 minutes.

As time went on, the Eindhoven got a control of the game and the liveliest of the attacking three, Florian Jozefzoon went close with a shot towards Pasveer’s near post which the goalkeeper turned behind.

PSV should have been level inside first-half stoppage, Jozefzoon again involved worked his way into the box and played in Jurgen Locadia, but a last ditch tackle by Mike te Wierik folied any attempt.

The home side could have furthered their lead minutes into the second period when Linssen curled a beautiful shot towards Zoet’s goal but PSV were saved by the crossbar.

Shortly after the hour mark, Cocu’s side suffered a major blow when Georginio Wijnaldum went down after a 50-50 tackle with Te Wierik. The PSV captain had to be helped from the pitch, due to a problem with his right foot and was replaced by Korean attacking midfielder Park Ji-Sung. Assessments will be made on Monday morning and it is unknown if Wijnaldum will travel with the squad to Milan for Wednesday’s second leg in the Champions League play-off.

Cocu staring his first defeat since taking over as PSV coach in the face was saved by the little Korean with just four minutes to go. Midfielder Stijn Schaars forced his way into the box feeding the ball to Park, who tussled with Heracles defenders before toe poking the ball past Pasveer.

It was the first points that PSV have dropped this season, making a tremendous start to the campaign but they fall into second place after Zwolle’s win later that evening.

ADO DEN HAAG 0-4 RODA JC

In an unexpected result, Roda JC hammered four past ADO to move up to fourth in the league.

The visitors controlled the game from the off and went a goal ahead in the 25th minute, when defender Kees Luijckx out jumped Tom Beugelsdijk at the back post to head in a Marc Höcher cross.

Just before the half-time whistle the lead was doubled from Henk Dijkhuizen.

Surging into the ADO area, Dijkhuizen played a one-two with forward Krisztián Németh before placing the ball into the net with ease.

Even though ADO arrive back on the pitch after the interval looking hungry to get themselves back in the game, it was Roda, on 53 minutes, who grabbed a third. ADO keeper Gino Coutinho was totally caught out by Mark-Jan Fledderus’s free-kick which missed everyone and sailed into the net.

The final nail in ADO’s coffin came with a quarter-of-an-hour remaning. Flicking on another Fledderus free-kick, Mitchell Donald nodded the ball past Coutinho to make it four.

ADO have made a poor start with just the one win this season, as Roda stroll on undefeated in the last three games.

PEC ZWOLLE 2-0 SC CAMBUUR

Although it was quite the even match, PEC Zwolle won their fourth consecutive game against a plucky SC Cambuur side that had their chances to score goals.

It was a goal-less and pretty uneventful first-half with Zwolle striker Fred Benson, usually clinical with his finishing, missed some glorious opportunities to breach Leonard Nienhuis’s goal.

Guyon Fernandez, on-loan from Feyenoord, arrived in the second-half as a half-time substitute for Mustafa Saymak, and opening the scoring with twenty minutes to go. Benson held up the ball in the box and layed it off to Mateusz Klich to drive at goal. Nienhuis could only the parry the ball into the path of Fernandez, who controlled the ball with his hand before tapping home.

The lead should been doubled minutes later, Benson again through on goal, placed his shot into the side-netting.

With twelve minutes to go it was 2-0, the tricky Jesper Drost was tripped by Martijn van der Laan and the referee pointed to the spot. Rochdi Achenteh stepped up and fired home to steal the three points for the new league leaders.

REMAINDER OF WEEK 4 FIXTURES

SUNDAY 25TH AUGUST

GO AHEAD EAGLES vs. FC GRONINGEN

FEYENOORD vs. NAC BREDA

VITESSE ARNHEM vs. FC TWENTE

FC UTRECHT vs. AZ ALKMAAR

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EREDIVISIE, NEWS

NEC sack Pastoor

August 19, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

Just another Monday morning and Alex Pastoor is clearing his desk and will begin a new search work after he was fired as coach of NEC.

He arrived in Nijmegen in the summer of 2011, joining from Eerste Divisie side Excelsior. He had a successful period in his first year, in Rotterdam as leaded Excelsior to promotion to the Eredivisie.

The following year, on a tight budget he saved the clubs Eredivisie status and lead some great players in the team. Breakthroughs for Jordy Clasie, Geert Arend Roorda and Ryan Koolwijk came under Pastoor’s leadership.

He has been at NEC for two seasons now, and during the first things started slowly as he suffered six defeats in a row and NEC were in danger of relegation.

The turning point came during a winter training camp in Spain in 2012. After team bonding and finding a new tactical ways of attacking Eredivisie teams, NEC climbed to eighth position in the league that season. Although, Vitesse Arnhem were too strong for them in the play-offs for a place in the Europa League.

After failing to find a win so far this season, NEC management decided to call time on their relationship with Pastoor: “Due to recent results we see no future between Alex Pastor and NEC,” said technical director Edo Ophof.

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Saturday 17th August 2013

August 18, 2013 Will Burns 1 Comment

WEEK 3 – Saturday 17th August 2013

PSV and surprisngly PEC Zwolle have three wins out of three and top the table after matchday one of week three. Only themselves and Heerenveen have 100% records with the Friesian side due to play on Sunday at home to Heracles.

PSV 3-0 GO AHEAD EAGLES

PSV keep up their 100% record with another win at home to Go Ahead Eagles, who headed into this game undefeated coming off a great victory hosting ADO Den Haag last weekend.

Eindhoven coach Philip Cocu needed to make two changes to his team due to injuries to young duo Jurgen Locadia and Zakaria Bakkali. Slovenian Tim Matavz returned in the lone spot up front with Florian Jozefzoon appearing on the right-wing in his first start for the club since his €850,000 move from RKC.

It was an even first-half with either ‘keeper being worked well but PSV right-back Santaigo Arias, a 20-year-old Colombian recently signed from Sporting Lisbon, was suffering with Eagles’s left-wing attacks. Down the left, Xander Houtkoop and Deniz Türüç were getting past Arias time after time, therefore Cocu made the decision to sub the Colombian for 19-year-old Joshua Brenet after half-an-hour, and the youngster coped well throughout.

Memphis Depay, on PSV’s left-wing, got into the game towards the end of the first half and Eagles goalkeeper Eloy Room, on loan from Vitesse, had to stop him three times from scoring before the interval.

Arriving for the second half, PSV stormed out of the blocks and found a breakthrough within two minutes. Jetro Willems finding space down the left, fired a ball across the box, Matatvz intercepted at the front post and placed Jozefzoon in to score on his first start.

The Philips Stadion faithful roared their team on and it was two eight minutes later. Swedish international Oscar Hiljemark hitting a low long range effort past Room from around 25 yards out.

The game was wrapped up with nine minutes remaining with a 30 yard free-kick from Depay. A swerving driving effort, that Room could only manage to palm onto the post but into the goal.

Another good win for Philip Cocu’s men who sit on top with superior goal difference to second placed PEC Zwolle, ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League first leg tie against Serie A giants AC Milan.

SC CAMBUUR 4-1 FC GRONINGEN

After a promising start to the season, the world has come crashing down on Groningen, suffering a heavy 4-1 shock defeat away to lowly SC Cambuur.

Cambuur had failed to score a goal in the past two weeks of the season but they managed to find the net within two minutes of this match. Michiel Hemmen, scoring his first goal in the Eredivisie, pounced on a loose ball to finish after a mistake by Eric Botteghin.

It could have been two after 12 minutes with Groningen goalkeeper Marco Bizot saving his side on many occasions with a barrage of Cambuur attacks. The home side’s pressure was relentless and they did double the lead on 21 minutes through Erik Bakker. A one-two between Bakker and Hemmen placed the former into a lovely position in the box to time a first-time shot into Bizot’s goal.

The new boys were finding their groove and it was three on the stroke of half-time. Oebele Schokker crossed an inswinging corner and defender Ramon Leeuwin rose above everyone to power a header home. Groningen was sinking fast and would have been glad to hear the half-time whistle.

The away side emerged for the second-half knowing that they needed an early goal if they had any chance out getting back into the game and they scored five minutes after the restart. Michael de Leeuw, who had replaced the injured David Texeira midway through the first-half, scoring the goal. Nick van der Velden created some space down the right and swung in a cross for De Leeuw to smash a header past Leonard Nienhuis.

Groningen failed to score any more and Cambuur fourth killed off any chance of a comeback on 69 minutes. A lovely combination move by the hosts, which was finished by a low drive from Wout Droste from the right of the penalty area.

A huge win for Cambuur, finally getting some points on the board but as for Groningen, it was a terrible display. The game highlighting many problems for the team, and coach Erwin van de Looi will tend to these before next week’s travel to Deventer to play Go Ahead Eagles.

RKC WAALWIJK 1-2 AZ ALKMAAR

AZ Alkmaar travelled to Waalwijk and beat RKC 2-1 with Maarten Martens scoring the late winner just seconds after Jean-David Beauguel had equalised for the hosts.

AZ took a fourth-minute lead through American striker Aron Jóhannsson. After Nemanja Gudelj was trying to force his way into the box, the ball fell to the unmarked Jóhannsson to dink the ball over the onrushing Czech goalkeeper Jan Šeda.

RKC kept their composure and pressed for an equaliser with caution, and had to wait until seven minutes remaining to draw level.

French striker Beauguel had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes replacing defender Ingo van Weert. Rushing onto a long ball from the counter-attack, the tall striker powered his way past defender Nick Viergever to chip goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado to send the crowd into raptures.

The crowd quickly calmed down a minute later when Gudelj crossed deep from the right to meet the volleying right foot of Martens to take home the points. A crushing blow for Erwin Koeman’s side.

NEC NIJMEGEN 1-5 PEC ZWOLLE

The pressure is on for NEC coach Alex Pastoor, his team is propping up the league without a point and victims of a crushing 5-1 defeat to highflying PEC Zwolle.

Zwolle’s Jesper Drost scored after 12 seconds last weekend, making his goal the fastest ever in Eredivisie history. However, Drost must have thought his record had been smashed right in front of his eyes when NEC’s Victor Pálsson drove the ball home after just ten seconds on the clock, but English striker Michael Higdon was penalised for a foul a second earlier.

Drost was on the scoresheet again putting Zwolle in the lead on 15 minutes. His first shot was saved by Karl-Johan Johnsson, but he headed the rebound home.

The pair of Youness Mokhtar and Kamohelo Mokotjo once again ran the show for Zwolle and the two combined three minutes later to make it 2-0. The Moroccan midfielder Mokhtar weaved his way in and out of the NEC defence before laying onto the South African Mokotjo for his second goal of the campaign. The Nimigen crowd were not happy and boos rang out of the Goffertstadion.

The pain continued for Pastoor’s side before half-time with striker Fred Benson, lively throughout, grabbing his first goal of the day on 37 minutes. Once again, the tricky Mokhtar taking on defenders then whipped a ball for Benson to head home at the front post, to send the away side into the break three goals to the good.

Two more goals were added early in the second period. Surging down the wing, left-back Maikel van der Werff continued into the area and laid it on a plate for Benson to tap home for his second on 49 minutes. As Benson danced to celebrate, a small percentage of the NEC fans were seen leaving the stadium in disgust.

More boos rang out just three minutes later as Zwolle scored their fifth and final goal. Some good work from Mokotjo set-up Mokhtar to fire home to score a goal that he had well deserved.

NEC’s only consolation came from Christoph Hemlein’s 76th-minute strike which was met with sarcastic applause from the home fans. They had a perfect chance to score a second after Hemlein was fouled in the area by Zwolle ‘keeper Kevin Begios, but Higdon hit a poor penalty that was easily saved by the goalkeeper. It has been a poor start to the season from the English striker and he may be in danger of being dropped if his action in front of goal does not improve.

The Nijmegen side are in major trouble failing to grab any points in three outings and conceding five goals in two consecutive games. The pressure is indeed on for Alex Pastoor and they must look for victory at home to RKC next weekend, if he is still in charge by then, after most of the fans are calling for his resignation.

Zwolle on the other hand maintain an 100% record with three wins in three and they look stronger and stronger as the games go on, they host newly promoted Cambuur next Saturday night.

RODA JC 1-1 VITESSE

Two goals in seven minutes settled a 1-1 draw between Roda and Vitesse. Highly-rated Brazilian playmaker Lucas Piazón, on-loan from Chelsea, made his first start and impressed. His skill nearly produced the first goal on six minutes, he slalomed through three Roda defenders but Vitesse failed to capitalise on the Brazilian’s good work.

We had to wait until 62 minutes to get our first goal. Valeri Kazaishvili putting the visitors ahead after another Chelsea loanee, Patrick van Aanholt has pressed his way down the left-wing. The lef-back continued into the area to lay the ball off to the Georgian to finish high into the goal superbly.

Seven minutes the game was tied through some great reactions from Roda striker Marc Höcher. After captain Mark-Jan Fledderus had seen his shot crash off the crossbar, the alert Höcher fired the ball back across the goal to send the ball home into an empty net.

REMAINDER OF WEEK 3 FIXTURES

SUNDAY 18TH AUGUST

AJAX vs. FEYENOORD

HEERENVEEN vs. HERACLES

NAC BREDA vs. ADO DEN HAAG

FC TWENTE vs. FC UTRECHT

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