Friday night and champions Ajax started the crusade on the hunt for their fourth successive title with a 3-0 victory over relegation contenders Roda JC at the Amsterdam ArenA, even though they did have quite a bit of luck.
AJAX 3-0 RODA JC
In an exciting beginning to the game, Ajax burst out the blocks much to delight of the Amsterdam crowd, and Frank de Boer’s side were nearly a goal ahead inside the first seven minutes. Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen crashed a free-kick on the edge of the box onto the crossbar of Filip Kurto’s goal, but a few minutes after that, the hosts were ahead.
Another free-kick, but this time Eriksen whipped the ball in from the left-hand side that deceived everyone in the box. Kurto used his reflexes to divert the ball with his foot, but the ball rebounded off full-back Ricardo Van Rhijn’s shins and into the goal. An unfortunate goal for Roda to concede.
Ajax dominated and captain Siem de Jong doubled the lead on 31 minutes. Again, the Dane Eriksen was involved, he placed an ideal through ball with found De Jong inside the box, who kept his composure to coolly slot the ball home.
With the trio of De Jong, Viktor Fischer and debutant Bojan as Ajax’s attacking threat, Roda failed to find much of the ball out of their own half and Ajax should have put the game to bed. Bojan had a genuine claim for a spotkick at the start of the second-half when he found his way into the box only to be clearly fouled by Ard van Peppen, but the referee waved away his appeals.
On the hour mark, as Ajax tired, Roda began to see a lot more of the ball and were close to getting back into it when winger Guus Hupperts placed a shot onto the post.
On 70 minutes, Daley Blind was caught pulling on Krisztián Németh’s shirt and referee Danny Makkelie pointed to the spot. The away supporters were on their feet in delight but Wiljan Pluim blazed the resulting kick over Kenneth Vermeer’s crossbar. It is extraordinary that Pluim’s effort is now the fifth consecutive penalty that has been missed by opponents of Ajax.
The icing on the cake was on 83 minutes when Ajax cemented the points with their third goal. The new number 7 for the Amsterdammers, Viktor Fischer with a deft chip after Lasse Schone had forced Kurto into yet another save and De Jong hit the post with the rebound.
Ajax win and sit top of the league, while Roda JC linger at the bottom and regret the penalty miss that could have possibly changed the scoreline.
Go Ahead Eagles of Deventer have soared into the top flight for the first time in seventeen long years.
Eagles had defeated FC Volendam 3-0 at home on Thursday but lost the return in Volendam 1-0 on Sunday afternoon, winning 3-1 on aggregate. The last time Go Ahead played in the highest league was in the 1995/1996 season when they finished bottom.
Roda JC have avoided relegation by scoring a last-minute winning goal against Henk Ten Cate’s Sparta Rotterdam. After the first match ended goalless Mario Bilate earned Sparta an early lead in Kerkrade on Sunday. However, Mark-Jan Fledderus equalized via a free-kick in the 73rd minute and also became match winner in the 90th minute through another free-kick: 2-1.
If Roda would have been relegated the southern province of Limburg would have been without representation in the Eredivisie for the first time in history, with VVV, MVV and Fortuna Sittard already playing on the second level.
Go Ahead Eagles are flying towards the top flight as Roda and Sparta cancel each other out in tonight’s Eredivisie Relegation/Promotion playoffs.
Go Ahead Eagles 3 (Houtkoop 8, Antonia 70, Kolder 82)
FC Volendam o
Go Ahead Eagles have all but confirmed their next season in the Eredivisie with a emphatic 3-0 victory over fellow Jupiler League side FC Volendam this evening.
The hosts took the lead after eight minutes with a great individual display of the ruthless in-form Xander Houtkoop.
Go Ahead subsequently failed to build on the goal, with Volendam goalkeeper Sonny Stevens several times coming to his side’s rescue.
After the break, Volendam urged forward more often but the Eagles remained by far the most dangerous team. Again, Stevens kept his team in the match with some good saves until Jarchinio Antonia eventually breached the net. The game was finished off by Marnix Kolder with eight minutes remaning as Volendam were reduced to ten men with a second yellow card for Paul de Lange.
It is hard to see whether Erik ten Hag’s side can turn this around in Sunday’s return leg, on this performance it looks to be an impossible task.
———–
Sparta Rotterdam 0
Roda JC 0
Ruud Brood’s Roda JC cling onto survival by taking a 0-0 draw back home for Sunday’s second leg against Henk ten Cate’s Sparta Rotterdam.
Roda nearly grabbed the opening goal with Hungarian hitman Krisztián Németh missing early opportunities. But the best chance of the game fell to the Mark-Jan Fledderus after half an hour of play, his free kick got the best out of Spaerta’s German goalkeeper Nico Pellatz.
In the second half, the anxious Sparta found it hard to attack and in particular striker Donovan Deekman spurning some great chances to clinch the game for his team.
Roda’s top scorer Sanharib Malki was quiet until in the final stages placing his shots wide.
A poor game, which before the kick-off most were chomping at the bit at the thought of these two sides looking to entertain.
Henk ten Cate’s Sparta are through to the playoff finals
The promotion race is heating up with the final four teams set for finals of the playoffs on Thursday and Sunday in two-legged affairs. Go Ahead Eagles face FC Volendam and Sparta Rotterdam play Eredivisie relegation threatened Roda JC.
In Sunday’s action, the surprise of the round was in venlo as VVV‘s fate was sealed as they are are now relegated to the second tier as they slumped to a 3-0 home defeat against Go Ahead Eagles.
The Eagles only finished sixth in the Jupiler League but could yet claim an unexpected place in the Eredivisie. The goals scored by Jarchinio Antonia (14), Quincy Promes (81) and Marnix Kolder (89) seeing them to a huge 4-0 aggregate win.
Roda JC, who found themselves alongside VVV in the relegation play-off zone, have avoided relegation (so far) as they emphatically smashed De Graafschap 6-1 for a 7-2 aggregate win.
Jordan Garcia-Calvete fired De Graafschap ahead to give the team from the second tier the aggregate lead, but it was one-way traffic after that, with a brace by the consistent Sanharib Malki and on-loan striker Frank Demouge effort putting Roda 3-1 up at half-time. Malki completed his hat-trick two minutes after the restart, while Mitchell Donald’s two goals
Eerste Divisie runners-up FC Volendam won 4-1 over MVV on aggregate with a 3-1 win on Sunday. Top scorer Michiel Kramer (44), Ludcinio Marengo (80) and Robert Muhren (90) notching for Volendam as Mark Veldmate hit MVV’s consolation.
Jupiler League’s third place side Sparta Rotterdam are also through after drawing 1-1 with Helmond Sport for a 5-3 aggregate win. Toni Varela put Sparta ahead 55 minutes before Emrullah Guvenc levelled late on.
The finals of the playoffs begin on Thursday so join us then and over the weekend for full coverage here at Total Dutch Football.
PSV and Vitesse have temporarily joined Ajax on sixty points with wins today and both are now joint top in a very close title race in the Eredivisie. Ajax play Heracles tomorrow knowing that they have no room for error for the remainder of the season with Feyenoord also snapping at their heels.
Wilfried Bony heads Vitesse ahead with his 28th goal of the season
Vitesse 3 (Bony 28, 59, Ibarra 50)
NAC Breda 0
The on-fire Ivorian striker Wilfried ‘Daddy Cool’ Bony added his 28th and 29th goals of the season this evening in a 3-0 win over NAC Breda that fired Vitesse on sixty points to join PSV and Ajax at the top.
It was a really poor start to the game until on 28 minutes when Bony scored his 28th of the season in just 26 games. It was also the eighth Eredivisie game in a row in which he has scored a goal. Vitesse went from first gear to fifth gear as soon as Bony hit the net. Frenchman Gael Kakuta (on loan from Chelsea) nearly finished off a brilliant solo effort after crashing his shot off the crossbar just a minute later.
Renato Ibarra virtually sealed the game for Vitesse on 50 minutes with a wonderful solo goal after an error from NAC goalkeeper Jelle ten Rouwelaar. Bony was on the scoresheet again and killed the game off on 59 minutes for his 29th league goal of the season.
HIGHLIGHTS
————–
Castaignos smashes home for his tenth goal of the season
FC Twente 2 (Castaignos 44, Chadli 56)
Roda JC 0
FC Twente fianlly clinched their first win in 2013 in a home win over relegation worried Roda JC.
Luc Castaignos and Nacer Chadli were the goalscorers at the Grolsch Veste. Twente dominated but once again had great difficulty to find the net. Once there had been opportunities for Tim Hölscher, Chadli, the chances fell the way of Castaignos. The youngster smashed the ball home past goalkeeper Filip Kurto after a nice through ball from Leroy Fer.
Shortly after the break, Chadli made it 2-0 after he used great technique to curl the ball inside the post. Roda unfortunately could not break Twente down or get themselves back in the game and looking good contenders for the drop.
HIGHLIGHTS
————–
Zwolle and RKC still linger above the relegation places
PEC Zwolle 1 (Mokhtar 21)
RKC Waalwijk 1 (Jozefzoon 7)
PEC Zwolle and RKC are also in relagation toruble and could not help their causes by sharing the points on Saturday evening. Florian Jozefzoon gave RKC an excellent start after just 7 minutes. The home team recovered, however, and Youness Mokhtar equaliser midway through the first half. After the break, both teams spurned chances to take the maximum points. Both RKC and Zwolle are on thirty points after 29 games, the teams are respectively thirteenth and fourteenth.
————–
PSV captain Marc van Bommel celebrates his 50th PSV league goal
In a bland first half, it was the basement club Willem II that looked more likely to score with 19-year-old left-winger Virgil Misidjan, became a real thorn in PSV’s side throughout. But it was an old face that opened the scoring. Thirty-five year-old stalwart Marc Van Bommel hit a 25-yard low drive past Belgian goalkeeper David Meul in the Willem goal in first-half stoppage time. This was his 50th Eredivisie goal for PSV.
Willem grabbed an unlikely equalizer on 54 minutes through Jordens Peters with an accurate header past PSV ‘keeper Boy Waterman after Peters got on the end of a lovely whipped cross from Marc Höcher. PSV regained the lead and got their title challenge back on track fifteen minutes from the end with the reliant Swede striker Ola Toivonen. Toivonen finishing a wonderful move from the hardworking Memphis Depay. The points were settled minutes later with a rare Timothy Derijck goal. A exquistie backheeled flick by Kevin Strootman from a Atiba Hutchinson cross setup the big Belgian defender Derjick perfectly to head home.
The title looks to be heading to Amsterdam once again as Ajax take pole position with a thumping 4-1 win at home to NEC Nijmegen. Second placed PSV Eindhoven were held to a 2-2 draw away to relegation threatened Roda JC. Also, Ivorian hitman Wilfried ‘Daddy Cool’ Bony was on the scoresheet yet again as Vitesse climbed to third position with a win over PEC Zwolle.
Despair – PSV dropped two precious points on Sunday
Roda JC 2 (Demouge 13, Malki 87)
PSV Eindhoven 2 (Toivonen 19, 33)
PSV dropped a precious two points in the title race after a 2-2 draw with Roda JC in Kerkrade on Sunday afternoon. Swedish forward Ola Toivonen hit a first-half double as PSV came from behind after on-loan striker Frank Demouge’s (from League One side Bournemouth) early opener. With three minutes remaining, Syrian international Senharib Malki scored a dramatic equaliser to salvage a point for the hosts.
PSV were the better team in the first 45 minutes, but against the run of play, conceded a goal in the 13th minute. Demouge rose high above his marker to produce a glancing header from Mark-Jan Fledderus’ corner, scoring the opener for Ruud Brood’s team from their first meaningful chance. However, it was a short-lived lead for Roda, just six minutes later PSV drew level, when Toivonen headed home at the far post. PSV enjoyed most possession of the ball and attacking pair Memphis Depay and Jermain Lens had chances to put PSV ahead. Dick Advocaat’s team deservedly took the lead in the 33rd minute, after veteran Mark van Bommel delivered a fine cross from the right. Jeremain Lens just could not connect but Toivonen was on hand to tap home from close range for his second goal.
Roda keeper Kurto quickly left his line to deny Tim Matavz and minutes later the Slovenian striker, with only the keeper to beat, sent an effort just wide of the post. Disaster struck for PSV late in the goal, when Malki scored the dramatic leveller, putting away Mikołaj Lebedyński’s flick on.
HIGHLIGHTS (in Dutch)
———-
Daddy Cool – Wilfried Bony celebrating his 27th goal of the Eredivisie
Vitesse Arnhem 2 (Bony 9, Havenaar 35)
PEC Zwolle 1 (Valpoort 78)
PSV’s slip allowed Vitesse Arnhem to draw level in second place as they extended their winning run to six games with a 2-1 win over PEC Zwolle at the Gelredome. Hot property Wilfried Bony and Mike Havenaar fired them 2-0 by the break with Zwolle’s sole reply coming via Arsenio Valpoort with 12 minutes left. Bony opened the scoring after after good work by Ecuadorean Renato Ibarra just nine minutes capitalising on a mistake from Zwolle defence. It was shortly 2-0 in the 35th minute, Theo Janssen swung in a flawless free-kick to find the rising Havenaar to double the lead. Zwolle got a late consolation from young loanee winger Valpoort (from Heerenveen) and Theo Janssen gained a 93rd minute yellow card for jawjacking with the referee. He is now suspended for the next weekend’s game, at home against NAC Breda.
Erwin Koeman’s was delighed as his RKC Waalwijk side grabbed three much needed points completely outplaying ADO Den Haag to win 4-0, and to edge away from the relegation places. All four goals were a comedy of errors for team from The Hague but the result was no laughing matter. Mart Lieder got the ball rolling on ten minutes before a Vito Wormgoor own goal and Robert Braber’s goal shortly before half-time all but settled the match. Henrico Drost put the icing on the cake two minutes before time.
“Today, we had an aggressive attacking forward play and finished our chances,” Koeman told Eredivisie Live . “We were passionate and we deserved to win. We came in at half-time at 3-0, which was of course was delightful. I think we have done well. “
———-
He’s off – Thomas Lam shown his marching orders
Heracles 1 (te Wierik 43)
AZ Alkmaar 2 (Henriksen 22, te Wierik 24OG)
AZ Alkmaar grabbed a much-needed win 2-1 at Heracles Almelo despite playing with ten men for almost an hour. Markus Henriksen’s 22nd-minute opener was followed by a Mike te Wierik own goal two minutes later to give AZ a 2-0 lead. Thomas Lam saw red on the hour but Heracles were only able to pull a single goal back when Te Wierik made up for his earlier blunder with a 43rd-minute goal.
———-
Delight – Fischer feels the Amsterdam Arena’s appreciation after scoring Ajax’s third
Ajax 4 (Fischer 21, 77, van Ejiden 25OG, Babel 81)
NEC 1 (van der Velden 78)
Ajax moved three points clear at the top of the table with a 4-1 win over NEC Nijmegen, Sunday evening at the Amsterdam Arena. Viktor Fischer scoring his first goal since February, made it 1-0 on 21 minutes before a Rens Van Eijden own goal gave Ajax full control. Fischer’s second on 77 minutes was quickly nullified by a Nick Van der Velden goal but substitute Ryan Babel scored nine minutes from the end to ensure a wide-margin win.
Ajax dominating from the kick-off, opened the scoring with Danish youngster Fischer coolly finishing past NEC’s Hungarian goalkeeper Gábor Babos after impressive build up play by Lasse Schone and Siem de Jong. The lead was doubled just four minutes later thanks to an own goal from van Eijden trying to clear a Christian Eriksen cross-cum-shot.
The exciting Fischer extended Ajax’s lead further on 77 minutes with a delightful chip from the edge of the box. After recieving the ball from Eriksen, he spotted Babos off his line and the Dane delicately slipped his foot under the ball and glided it home into the top corner to get the crowd on their feet. NEC hit back right after play resumed with Nick van der Velden scoring after a fine pass from Victor Palsson to reduce the defecit. It only lasted three minutes as Ajax regained their three-goal advantage when substitute Ryan Babel added the fourth on 81 minutes.
Ajax now lay three points clear at the top of the pile but Frank de Boer knows that just one slip up could let PSV or Vitesse over take them.
PSV and Vitesse have temporarily joined Ajax on sixty points with wins today and both are now joint top in a very close title race in the Eredivisie. Ajax play Heracles tomorrow knowing that they have no room for error for the remainder of the season with Feyenoord also snapping at their heels.
