AZ misses a penalty kick and numerous chances and is damaged in the title race


Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 6:37 PM• Mart Oude Nieuweweeme

AZ lost expensive points on Saturday evening in the battle for the championship in the Eredivisie. The team of trainer Pascal Jansen faced a backlog early in the game due to Sydney van Hooijdonk. Substitute Mexx Meerdink managed to equalize the score, but the Alkmaarders didn’t get any further than that: 1-1. Jesper Karlsson saw a penalty kick beautifully taken by Xavier Mous. Due to the division of points, AZ fails to take over second place from Ajax. The gap to leader Feyenoord, which played one game less, is seven points.

There was good news for Sam Beukema at AZ. The central defender was in the starting line-up for the first time since his injury. The defender formed the heart of the defense with Pantelis Hatzidiakos. On the side of Heerenveen, they received bad news during the international break. Joost van Aken injured his knee to such an extent that he will not play again this season. Because his contract is also not being extended, his last months in Frisian service are all about rehabilitation. With Sven van Beek, another center defender has also been in the rag basket at Heerenveen for quite some time.

Kees van Wonderen’s team, which only managed to win one of the last five official matches, started energetically in the AFAS Stadium. The ball was already in the goal within five minutes, when Van Hooijdonk reacted much more attentively in front of the goal than Beukema and the 0-1 worked behind Mathew Ryan. Not much later, the game was marred by fireworks, which were thrown onto the field by supporters of Heerenveen. Referee Jochem Kamphuis decided to stop the game and briefly enter. After the break, the best opportunities were for the home side.

Karlsson’s free kick sailed just wide, while Hatzidiakos didn’t have his sights set either. The last achievement of the first half came from Beukema’s head, who saw his header hit the post from a corner. Even after the break, the entertainment value was high and both teams provided an entertaining game. After five minutes of play in the second company, the ball hit the spot when Mous floored Sven Mijnans on the back line. Karlsson took a seat behind the ball, but saw the Heerenveen goalie make a nice save.

Although Van Hooijdonkk saw a bet taken off the line by Beukema in the last quarter of the game, the best chances were for AZ. However, Karlsson, among others, was inaccurate in the completion on the instructions of Mijnans. Jansen decided to intervene and bring in Mayckel Lahdo and Meerdink to force something. Ten minutes after coming on, the duo was responsible for the equalizer. After Lahdo’s bet could still be turned by Mous, Meerdink was accurate in the rebound: 1-1.

Kamphuis initially allowed play to continue, but was called back by the VAR and approved the goal – the ball was removed from the line by Milan van Ewijk. In the absolute final phase of the game, it was AZ that insisted, without creating great opportunities. The best opportunity even came in the name of Heerenveen, which shot just wide via Pelle van Amersfoort. Partly due to the VAR moment around the equalizer, Kamphuis added seven minutes of injury time, but neither team succeeded in producing a second goal.

No. Team m W G v +/- Pnt
1 Feyenoord 26 18 7 1 34 61
2 Ajax 26 16 7 3 44 55
3 AZ 27 16 6 5 22 54
4 PSV 26 16 5 5 36 53
5 FC Twente 26 13 8 5 22 47
6 Sparta Rotterdam 26 13 7 6 14 46
7 FC Utrecht 26 10 8 8 1 38
8 sc Heerenveen 27 9 8 10 -5 35
9 NEC 26 7 13 6 9 34
10 RKC Waalwijk 25 8 8 9 0 32
11 Go Ahead Eagles 25 7 8 10 -8 29
12 Fortuna Sittard 26 8 5 13 -14 29
13 FC Volendam 26 7 5 14 -25 26
14 Vitesse 26 5 9 12 -16 24
15 Excelsior 26 7 2 17 -36 23
16 FC Emmen 26 4 9 13 -22 21
17 Fc Groningen 26 4 5 17 -27 17
18 SC Cambuur 26 4 4 18 -29 16