AZ recorded an easy victory over FC Volendam on Sunday afternoon. The North Holland derby, which barely ignited, was defeated by goals from Dani de Wit, Vangelis Pavlidis and two from Yukinari Sugawara: 0-4.

The match in Volendam was preceded with a minute's silence in memory of Ramon Visser. The Volendammer, former player, died at the age of 35 due to cancer. Visser played football in the youth academy of FC Volendam.

The loss of Visser hit Robert Mühren hard, among others, who was good friends with him and did not keep it dry during the minute's silence. A nice tribute also followed in minute 35, when all players stopped playing football and a minute of applause followed.

The match

Already in the seventh minute, AZ thought they could score the opening goal. Ruben van Bommel continued well into the enemy box and simply slid in, but had touched the ball with his hand in the run-up to the goal.

The visitors still took the lead halfway through the first half. A free kick from Sven Mijnans was headed in at the far post by De Wit: 0-1. Ten minutes later, Sugawara doubled the margin when his shot deflected and fell into the short corner: 0-2.

Volendam's first chance came in minute 50. Vivalo Semedo's bicycle kick was acrobatic, but the Udinese mercenary lacked strength and direction. It turned out to be the only serious achievement of the match for the home team.

AZ decided to take the lead in the last quarter of the match and further increased the score. After Pavlidis first saw a goal disallowed for offside, he was accurate two minutes later: 0-3.

The best goal of the afternoon was yet to follow. Fifteen minutes before the end, Sugawara was allowed to take a free kick about twenty meters away. The Japanese curled the ball wonderfully over the wall in the short intersection: 0-4.

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