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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 – Heracles end RKC’s run

January 24, 2014 Will Burns Leave a comment

FRIDAY 24TH JANUARY 2014

Week 20 of the Eredivisie began with RKC Waalwijk’s undefeated run of six games ending with a 2-1 away defeat to Heracles Almelo. Erwin Koeman’s side have not lost a game since early November in a 5-2 thrashing at Heerenveen.

HERACLES 2-1 RKC WAALWIJK

The hosts pressed for the majority of the first half, not giving RKC much chance of an attack, and Heracles nearly went ahead on the half hour mark if it were not for Arjan van Dijk in the RKC goal. After Imad Najah fouled Simon Cziommer on the edge of the area, the German midfielder stepped up and smashed the ball towards goal. It was a fierce effort but Van Dijk got across his goal to tip over.

The deadlock was broken before half-time and it was Bryan Linssen once again on the scoresheet. The ever lively Iliass Bel Hassani was tormenting RKC defence throughout and fire a ball across the goal on 39 minutes, Ben Rienstra’s sliding effort was denied by Van Dijk but unfortunately for the goalkeeper the ball fell to Linssen to notch his sixth goal of the season.

Shortly after the break, Heracles extended their lead. After some great work twisting and turning the left side of the RKC defence, winger Mikhail Rosheuvel swung a high ball into the box where Mark Uth met with a header, unchallenged by the two on looking Waalwijk defenders who were blaming each other for not marking.

RKC’s newest signing Daniel de Ridder made an appearance just after the hour mark replacing the Sander Duits, and a few minutes later his new side were handed a lifeline. It was a fortunate goal for Damiano Schet, the winger lined up a free-kick to a similar position to Cziommer’s in the first-half and hit a low drive towards Remko Pasveer’s goal. The ball ricocheted off the legs of the Heracles wall and diverted past the helpless Pasveer.

The visitors should and could have claimed a point in the dying embers of the game but Robert Braber blared an easy chance over the bar.

Heracles held on in the late stages to claim all three points to lift them up to ninth at this point, while RKC drop into sixteenth just two points adrift of the basement spot.

TEAMS

HERACLES: Pasveer, Schenkeveld, Dorda, Davidson, Te Wierik, Bel Hassaini (Bruns 78), Rienstra, Cziommer, Rosheuvel (Tannane 70), Linssen, Uth (Powel 85).

SUBS NOT USED: Telgenkamp, Quansah, Van Dijk, Belterman.

GOALS: Linssen 41, Uth 54.

BOOKINGS: None

RKC WAALWIJK: Van Dijk, Van Hoevelen (Anderson 81), Apau, Gouano, Amieux, Najah, Duits (De Ridder 65), Braber, Sno, Schet (Beaugel 88), Joachim.

SUBS NOT USED: Seda, Ivens, Jungschlager, Lamey.

GOALS: Schet 67.

BOOKINGS: None

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BETTING TIPS, EREDIVISIE, EREDIVISIE PREVIEW

EREDIVISIE WEEK 20 PREVIEW – Friday & Saturday

January 23, 2014 Will Burns 1 Comment

Week 20 of the Eredivisie is upon us and can Ajax and Vitesse maintain their good form and stay at the top of the pile or can Feyenoord catch up on Saturday and place a bit of pressure on them? Will Burns is here with this predictions and like all his tips, you will not see a ‘best bet’ under evens – good luck!

Friday 24th January

HERACLES vs. RKC WAALWIJK– 19:00

Currently undefeated in their last six Eredivisie games, RKC Waalwijk are surprising a lot of pundits in the Netherlands but on Friday night they face the tough challenge of Heracles.

With Romeo Castelen missing with a knee injury for RKC, it only get tougher. Heracles will want to bounce back from last week’s 3-1 defeat away to Twente, and will look to star player Bryan Linssen to get on the scoresheet.

The hosts will have Jeroen Veldmate serving a suspension for this game, after last Friday’s red card, but the central defensive pairing of Bart Schenkeveld and Ben Rienstra will cover in his absence.

Look for RKC to keep their undefeated run going by notching another point as I see this game being a draw, and with BetVictor offering 29/10, it’s a bet too good to miss especially when Heracles have just won one of their last six games at the Polman Stadion.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (29/10 – BetVictor)

Saturday 25th January

ADO DEN HAAG vs. FEYENOORD – 17:45

A huge 5-2 win away to Utrecht last Sunday meant Feyenoord have now won five out of the last five Eredivisie games, but sadly for the Rotterdam side, they were knocked out of the KNVB Beker on Wednesday in a tough 3-1 defeat away to Ajax.

ADO will be the fresher side with no midweek game this week but due to far superiority in Ronald Koeman’s camp, I cannot see Feyenoord not coming out the victors. At 4/7 (BetVictor) Graziano Pelle and co. might be worth adding to your accumulator but it is certainly not our best bet.

Like last week I fancy Feyenoord to win both half-time and full-time in this one and we stick with BetVictor again at 11/8. For the record, Koeman’s men have now won this bet in the last four Eredivisie matches.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Feyenoord HT/FT (11/8 – BetVictor)

NAC BREDA vs. PEC ZWOLLE – 18:45

PEC Zwolle will be oozing with confidence after their trimpuant 5-1 win over Topklasse outfit JVC Cuijk in midweek to fire themselves into the semi-finals of the KNVB Beker.

No disrespect to JVC, but Zwolle will face a much stronger side in NAC Breda on Saturday evening. A side that is undefeated at home in the last six games, with five wins (AZ Alkmaar, Heracles, Go Ahead Eagles, PSV and Cambuur) and one draw (Groningen).

Breda have no real injury problems but Zwolle still are without strong powerful defender Darryl Lachman due to hamstring problem. Zwolle are on a four game losing streak in league games, but I can see the hunger to end that unwanted streak ending on Saturday. I can see this one ending as a draw and ending one streak for Zwolle, and continuing another for NAC.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Draw (13/5 – Bet365)

RODA JC vs. FC UTRECHT – 18:45

Both teams will be hurting after being knocked out of the Dutch cup in midweek, Roda at home to AZ (2-0) and Utrecht away to NEC (1-0).

Jon Dahl Tomasson still searches for his first win and he will be without main striker Krisztián Németh, after the Hungarian’s stupid red card on Tuesday night, as he serves his first of a five match suspension.

Both sides are in dire need of a win and I can see goals a plenty going in here. Utrecht started well last weekend against Feyenoord but ended up conceding five losing 5-2. Jan Wouters will be looking to capitalise on Roda’s poor form of losing their four Eredivisie games at the Parkstad Limburg Stadion. Roda have not won a game in eight league matches and you have to go back to late October when they defeated PSV for the last time they clinched all three points on offer.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Utrecht to win (29/10 – BetVictor)

PSV vs. AZ ALKMAAR – 19:45

Saturday night’s main event pits PSV vs. AZ in a repeat of the KNVB Beker final last May. Of course, the star of the show that day was Adam Maher, who has since swapped clubs.

On reflection, even before last week’s defeat to bitter rivals Ajax, PSV’s season is already over with only qualification to the Europa League to play for. AZ can still hope to retain their Dutch cup after Tuesday’s 2-0 victory at Roda, and in the league they currently sit in 7th, a place and one point above Saturday’s opponents.

PSV were unlucky to not get at least a point at the Amsterdam Arena on Sunday, and the addition of Bryan Ruiz looks like he could inject life into the PSV attack, linking up well with Memphis Depay and Jürgen Locadia.

Look for PSV to be successful here as Phillip Cocu’s men have only lost once in their last 11 Eredivisie games (a 6-2 defeat against high-flying Vitesse). However, for my ‘best bet’ I pick Fulham’s on-loan winger Bryan Ruiz to score anytime, which you can pick up for 7/5 at Bet365.

BURNS’ BEST BET: Bryan Ruiz to score anytime (7/5 – Bet365)

Click here for a preview of Sunday’s games.

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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: Saturday 31st August 2013

September 1, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

WEEK 5 – Saturday 31st August 2013

PSV were held at home by new boys SC Cambuur on their big anniversary day, as Go Ahead Eagles keep flying towards the top end of the division.

FC TWENTE 1-1 HEERENVEEN

FC Twente escaped with a 1-1 draw at home to Marco van Basten’s Heerenveen as Swede defender Rasmus Bengtsson struck a late equaliser.

FC Twente were in control of the majority of the game as Heerenveen, without star striker Alfred Finnbogason due to a toe injury, took the lead through midfielder Joey Van der Berg score on 64 minutes.

The draw means both sides are locked just outside the top two positions.

HERACLES 1-0 ADO DEN HAAG

Heracles managed to hold on to their lead this week as they beat ADO Den Haag 1-0 at home.

ADO are in the middle of a poor run, only winning one of the last five games and it was the hosts that dominated.

Australian left-back Jason Davidson got the only goal of the game on the half-hour mark with Heracles failing to add to that goal, but remaining comfortable throughout.

RKC WAALWIJK 1-4 GO AHEAD EAGLES

Go Ahead Eagles are still soaring as Erik Falkenburg hit a hat-trick in the 4-1 defeat of RKC Waalwijk.

The former Jong Oranje international joined the Eagles on loan from AZ Alkmaar in early August and opened his account in fine style as they secured their second win of the season.

After notching two first-half goals, the 25-year-old completed his hat trick midway through the second half, while Marnix Kolder added a fourth goal from the penalty spot.

Denzel Slager pulled one back three minutes from time for Waalwijk, which has earned just one point from its last three games.

PSV 0-0 SC CAMBUUR

PSV’s anniversary celebrations were spoiled as they were held to a 0-0 home draw by newly promoted Eredivisie rivals SC Cambuur in the evening game.

The Eindhoven side were celebrating their 100th year in football, and could have gone top with a win, but Philip Cocu’s side slipped to their fourth consecutive game in all competitions without a win.

PSV had the most of possession and fired in more shots than their opponents, but a lack of accuracy cost both sides as they each only managed two on target.

PSV were eliminated from the Champions League in Wednesday’s play-off by Milan and will hope they come back from the international break reinvigorated as they ready themselves for a championship battle and a Europa League campaign.

REMAINDER OF WEEK 5 FIXTURES

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

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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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Sunday 11th August 2013

August 11, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

WEEK 2 – Sunday 11th August 2013

PSV Eindhoven will be celebrating tonight after title rivals Ajax and Feyenoord both tasted defeats just two weeks into the new season. Another great day for goals in the Eredivisie and Will Burns is here to describe them all.

FEYENOORD 1-4 FC TWENTE

The first game of the season at De Kuip and as always the crowd was jumping, well that was before the game. After the final whistle the supporters were leaving hanging their heads in shame. Feyenoord finished the match with just nine men on the field and Twente had defeated them by four goals to one, ending a 28-match unbeaten streak in Rotterdam.

The hosts went ahead after half an hour with their usual source to goals, Italian Graziano Pelle heading in at the front post from a Jordy Clasie out-swinging corner.

Twente hit back from the kick-off and fired a warning shot when former Feyenoord striker Luc Castaignos smashed a shot at Erwin Mulder’s goal that rattled the crossbar, and the woodwork had saved Koeman’s men.

They did not take heed of the warning as a minute later the scores were level and it was another former De Kuip man who scored the goal. Kyle Ebecilio recently signing on a free from Premier League club Arsenal kept his cool to finish inside the area, after a scramble.

With usual right-back Daryl Janmaat injured, the young Jordy van Deelen was making his first start for the club and midway through the second half he made a fatal mistake. Failing to get ahead of Shadrach Eghan, he pulled the Ghanaian midfielder down in the box and referee Richard Liesveld pointed to the spot and dismissed the debutant. As the rookie was trudging off the field, Dusan Tadic stepped up and slotted home the spot-kick to give Twente the lead.

Nine minutes later, Feyenoord lost another defender to the red card. Stefan de Vrij who had stupidly been booked midway through the first-half for diving in on a tackle he had no business is challenging for in the opposition’s half, did the same again on Castaignos inside the centre circle.

Twente’s attacking left-back Dico Koppers, a recent buy from Ajax in the summer, won a penalty surging into the box and being felled by Joris Mathijsen. Mathijsen received a yellow and Tadic converted his second penalty of the match.

The game was done but Twente weren’t finished as Castaignos and Tadic combined on the edge of the box and the former finished clinically to make the day worse for the Rotterdam fans.

Pressure will be on Koeman now, his team was tipped to be title challengers, but are now already six points off the top spot. The two defeats in two equals their worst start since the 1963/64 season, fifty years ago.

AZ ALKMAAR 2-3 AJAX

Last years’ Eredivisie champions Ajax took a major blow in the defence of their title as AZ Alkmaar gained revenge for last month’s Johan Crujiff Schaal match, and ended their fifteen match unbeaten run with a 3-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Frank de Boer’s men did take the lead on 20 minutes with a wonderful free-kick from Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen. From around 25 yards out, he lifted the ball superbly over the wall, spinning low into the goal past Esteban Alvarado, leaving the Costa Rican goalkeeper helpless.

The home side were level before half-time due to some bad goalkeeping by Dutch international Kenneth Vermeer. Trying to punch the ball away in a battle with Viktor Elm but flapped miserably and the ball fell in the path of Roy Beerens to poke home.

De Boer must have been furious with his goalkeeper so much that he replaced him at half-time with Jasper Cillessen. The Amsterdammers regained the lead on the hour mark but Siem de Jong delightfully finishing a Bojan cross, but it was poor defending from AZ as the Oranje midfielder was all alone to score.

Then disaster struck for Ajax five minutes later. Right-back Ricardo van Rhijn pulled down Nick Viergever in the penalty area and received his marching orders. The new American international Aron Jóhannsson’s spot-kick hit the back of the net and the reigning league champions were on the ropes.

Shortly after his entrance substitute Maarten Martens was invaluable for AZ, his beautiful pin-point cross found Elm unmarked at the back post, who placed a superb first-time volley into the back of the net.

It was a fantastic win for Gertjan Verbeek and the fans inside the AFAS Stadion but will probably be celebrated more by PSV coach Philip Cocu, whose side are already three points ahead of their rivals after just two games.

HIGHLIGHTS

FC GRONINGEN 2-0 FC UTRECHT

Although less convincing than last week in Nijmegen, FC Groningen won their second game of the season. Utrecht, going through a real bad spell at the moment, fell 2-0 in the Euroborg Stadion, thanks to goals from Nick van der Velden and SIXTEEN-year-old Richairo Živkovic.

For those who had not taken their seat when the opening whistle was blown by referee Dennis Higler, they may have missed his second whistle too, when he blew for a penalty kick. Utrecht’s captain Mark van der Maarel fouling Filip Kostic and Van der Velden took advantage of the spot-kick.

FC Groningen pressed throughout but did not double the score until 71st minute. After Robbin Ruiter parried a Van der Velden shot, the young Živkovic, brought on as a substitute just five minutes earlier, cooly converted a rebound. This was his second goal in two games after playing a total of just 12 minutes of play this season so far.

RKC WAALWIJK 4-2 VITESSE

After crashing out of Europe on Thursday, Vitesse travelled to Waalwijk to turn their attention back to the league where they defeated Heracles 3-1 last Sunday.

Within three minutes, it looked good for them as Kelvin Leerdam headed home at the front post from a Theo Janssen corner. Going forward, it was clear to see that the visitors were pressing a lot better than Thursday’s night’s defeat to FC Petrolul but defensively they looked dodgy. Patrick van Aanholt especially, getting caught out and minutes after the goal, contributing to what could have been an equaliser.

The Chelsea man and Jan-Arie van der Heijden passing around in their own penalty area and Luxembourg international striker Aurélien Joachim caught them out and had a glorious chance to put RKC level, but poorly placed his shot wide.

On 12 minutes, RKC were level. Some tremendous work from Romeo Castelen turning Van Aanholt inside out on the right-wing and crossing for Robert Braber to finish coolly.

Before half-time, Castelen himself got on the scoresheet and put RKC in the lead. Peter Jungschläger dinked a lovely ball over the defence and Castelen ran on to score his first goal in the Eredivisie for six years. The former Feyenoord winger had spells him Russia and Germany since leaving the Rotterdam club.

Vitesse boss Peter Bosz had to turn this around and replaced Van Aanholt and Giorgi Chanturia for Davy Propper and Valeri Qazaishvili. On the 54th minute mark, Qazaishvili scored the equaliser.

At that moment, the Arnhem side may have took the draw but RKC were not and two goals in as many minutes from Sander Duits sent Vitesse and their fans home miserable.

STANDINGS

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EREDIVISIE

EREDIVISIE REPORT: Saturday 3rd August 2013

August 3, 2013 Will Burns Leave a comment

WEEK 1 – Saturday 3rd August 2013

As usual in the Dutch top flight, it’s a case of goals, goals, goals on Saturday evening. Two games had five goals exchanged and Heerenveen vs. AZ Alkmaar had six, but as one extreme to the other, FC Twente and RKC Waalwijk failed to find a goal in their match.

ADO DEN HAAG 2-3 PSV

The Cocu Revolution made a great start to their title challenge with a 3-2 away victory over ADO Den Haag. PSV took a 3-0 lead thanks to Georginio Wijnaldum, a Danny Holla own goal and Jetro Willems within the opening 35 minutes. However Holla pulled one back on the stroke of half-time for the home side and young striker Mike Van Duinen reduced the deficit deep into injury time.

Nineteen-year-old forward Jurgen Locadia had an excellent chance to score in the opening minute but was thwarted by goalkeeper Gino Coutinho. PSV ‘keeper Jeroen Zoet was called into action for the first time in the 11th minute as he palmed away a long-range effort from Jerson Cabral.

A minute later and the visitors took the lead, new signing Stijn Schaars played in Wijnaldum and the captain slotted home at the far post.

Wijnaldum came very close to doubling the lead on 17 minutes with young prodigy Memphis Depay setting up Wijnaldum, he first touch was sublime, but his shot was subpar as the ball crept agonisingly wide of the post.

ADO had their chances too, as Cabral fired an effort on target but had his shot nodded away by Jeffrey Bruma.

PSV extended their lead in the 27th minute through an unlucky own goal by Holla. The defender tried to clear a long ball from Wijnaldum, but his looping header beat Coutinho.

Cocu’s young side, with five teenagers in the starting eleven, looked to have settled the match six minutes later. Left-back Willems wrong footed three defenders before blasting home.

PSV did not let up, and a minute later, looked for a fourth and the left-wing menace Depay looked likely to score, as he cut into the box and rounded two defenders but he sent his shot wide.

PSV sat back to protect the third goal lead but as it invited ADO on to the attack, they found a goal before half-time. Danny Holla making amends for his mistake by firing Ninos Gouriye’s dangerous cross past Zoet.

Diciating the tempo, PSV slowed down the pace of the game, with the home side enjoying the bulk of possession. Chances went begging when Wijnaldum headed Zakaria Bakkali’s free-kick over the bar and Locadia just could not connect with Depay´s cross. While ADO striker Van Duinen headed well wide over the bar in the 68th minute.

Van Duinen handed Den Haag a lifeline in second-half stoppage time, capitalising on a defensive slip but PSV held on to take all three points.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEC 1-4 FC GRONINGEN

FC Groningen also made a winning start to their campaign defeating NEC by four goals to one at the Goffertstadion on Saturday evening, a margin of goals that makes them top the table as of time of writing.

Both NEC and Groningen were quite active this summer in the transfer market, capturing six new players. As Groningen signed known Eredivisie experience in Tjaronn Chery, Eric Botteghin and Nick van der Velden, NEC mostly signed players without Dutch top flight familiarity.

It was obvious last season that NEC could use some fresh blood in as coach Alex Pastoor stated at the start of the campaign that him aim was to guide the team the Europa League playoffs but in the last twelve games were only four points were collected, three of them against the relegated Willem II.

Groningen came flying out of the blocks and one of the new boys, Chery scored the opening goal after just ten minutes of play. Kalle Johnson, last season’s NEC third choice goalkeeper, was responsible for the goal. Filip Kostic’s shot from the edge of the area, changed direction, but the weak save from Johnson led Chery to grab his first goal for the club on his debut.

It was 2-0 on 27 minutes and again Chery was involved. He placed a through ball to Andraz Kirm and the Slovenian outwitted Johnson to double the lead.

The two goal advantage put the visitors in the driving seat with Navarone Foor replying for the hosts before the half-time whistle.

Howver, second-half strikes from David Texeira, on 54 minutes and a late Richairo Zivkovic goal put the result beyond doubt.

FC TWENTE 0-0 RKC WAALWIJK

After losing top stars, Nader Chadli and Leroy Fer, FC Twente looked toothless and clueless in their opener against a RKC Waalwijk side which they should be quite capable of defeating. Instead it was a poor game and neither side could find a goal.

Even RKC has made some major changes in their playing staff, coach Erwin Koeman had to say goodbye to Jeroen Zoet, Cuco Martina, Henrico Drost, Guy Ramos and Ard van Peppen. Hardly any replacements of the calibre of the players that have departed have came in, and even after the Florian Jozefzoon’s transfer to PSV, there was not much money for new players.

The hosts did have their chances to win the match, especially through Willem Janssen and Luc Castaignos but the new RKC goalkeeper Jan Seda, had an excellent game and kept their best efforts out.

HEERENVEEN 4-2 AZ ALKMAAR

Heerenveen and AZ shared six goals in a high tempo match at a packed Abe Lenstra Stadion. Marco van Basten’s side showed that the administrative problems at the club have no impact on the performance on the field.

AZ had the best chance inside the first ten minutes when Swedish midfielder Viktor Elm found himself unmarked in the area and fired from close range straight at his compatriot Kristoffer Nordfeldt.

Heerenveen looked a different side to last year, with the high pressure and tenacity winning balls back deep into the opposition half. They grabbed the lead after 22 minutes when a penalty was awarded after a handball from Jan Wuytens inside the box. Icelandic hot shot Alfred Finnbogason made no mistake with the spot-kick, powering the shot into the right corner past Esteban Alvarado.

AZ were close to equalising minutes later but Nemanja Gudelj’s header from a corner clipped the crossbar and went over.

The visitors did grab the leveller, five minutes after the internal, with a tremendous solo effort from right-back Mattias Johansson. The Swede surged up the pitch with the ball stuck to his feet, played a lovely one-two inside the area with Aron Jóhannsson, and smashed it home.

The teams were only level pegging for just less than four minutes as Finnbogason clinched his second of the game. It was a poacher’s goal by the Iceland international, tapping home from a save from a lashing shot from Pele van Anholt.

Two minutes later, Van Anholt also got on the scoresheet as Heerenveen extended their lead to 3-1. The defender, who loves to get forward, arrived into the box as Finnbogason was doing some great play on the left of the area. The Icelandic squared the ball for Van Anholt to side-foot home with a neat finish.

The goals quietened down but the action did not, the hosts were reduced to ten-men after on-loan defender Mitchell Dijks was shown his marching orders for a strong but late challenge on Steven Berghuis. Luckily the striker was not seriously injured and continued the match.

AZ were given a chance to get back into the game when Rajiv van La Parra was deemed to have handle the ball in the area. The newly stated American international Jóhannsson converted perfectly hitting the inside of the left post on the way in.

The scoring had not been completed with the Van Basten’s boys when Van La Parra hit a superb curling effort from just outside the area to complete a 4-2 victory for Heerenveen.

HIGHLIGHTS

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NEWS, TRANSFERS

The Cocu Revolution begins…

June 27, 2013 Will Burns 2 Comments

In the past two weeks PSV Eindhoven have secured over €14 million in transfer fees, and new manager Philip Cocu has started pumping the funds back into the team, a team that he is building for success.

Belgian left-winger Dries Mertens was shipped off to the Serie A on Monday, where he signed for Napoli for a rumoured €9 million. While Jeremain Lens is off to Ukraine, signing for Dynamo Kiev last week for a reported €5 million. Former PSV player, Cocu who took over from Dick Advocaat as the team’s head coach in May, now has the money to splash to work on his project.

The pressure is on the new manager to build a team to try and stop Frank de Boer’s Ajax run of Eredivisie championships, and today he added his first two recruits to the Eindhoven squad.

Central defender Jeffrey Bruma signs from Chelsea

PSV technical director Marcel Brands confirmed that the club reached an agreement with Chelsea for the transfer of 21-year-old central defender Jeffrey Bruma. Bruma, who joins PSV from the Europa League champions after being borrowed to Hamburg of the Bundesliga for the past two seasons, will sign a four-year contract. The Rotterdam-born defender made his full Netherlands debut in August 2010. Chelsea have agreed that the contract includes a buy-back clause.

Winger Florian Jozefzoon arrives from RKC Waalwijk

Also, arriving on Monday will be Florian Jozefzoon from RKC Waalwijk. The winger will sign a three-year contract with an option of a further year. Jozefzoon recently made appearances for the Jong Oranje at the Under-21 European Championships in Israel. Jozefzoon, who was born in French Guiana, will report for duty on Monday, 8 July, along with the other international players who have competed over the summer.

With both these players arriving on Monday, subject to medicials, it is a hotly rumoured that AZ Alkmaar wonderkid Adam Maher is next on Cocu’s shopping list, which would be a major coup for the Eindhoven club.

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