Janis Blaswich appeared to be a candidate for ‘the Schwalbe of the Year’ on Saturday. The Heracles Almelo goalkeeper avoided AZ after a wrong pass lost the ball in a dangerous place. He passed two men and went to the ground a little late when he played the leather a little too far ahead, about fifteen yards from the center line. Blaswich denied after 2-1 defeat at ESPN that he was acting.
Reporter Pascal Kamperman asked Blaswich what exactly was going on with ‘his huge schwalbe’. “We call that a dip in the pool.” Blaswich: “Why? He hit me anyway. Yes, he hits me. He hit me, one hundred percent. If the referee allows it to continue, the VAR will see that.”
† Janis Blaswich has a clear opinion about his ‘schwalbe’:
“He hits me 100%.”#azher pic.twitter.com/6v7IMHO7Ga
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) February 19, 2022
Kamperman then pointed out to Blaswich that he took two more steps before falling. “Yes, he’s hitting me”, the goalkeeper’s brief defense said, who clearly no longer wanted to comment on the moment. Heracles lost 2-1 in Alkmaar on Saturday. The team from Almelo last won in 2005 at AZ, which has been unbeaten for seventeen games in a row this season.
Heracles already suffered the ninth defeat of this Eredivisie season, just as much as in the entire previous Eredivisie campaign. Frank Wormuth’s team made four ball contacts against AZ in the enemy sixteen: the lowest number for the Almelo team in an Eredivisie match since 15 October 2016 (then 4 against PSV). “A deserved defeat”, emphasized Justin Hoogma at RTV East† “We couldn’t hold the ball. Then you come under a lot of pressure.”
“Keeping possession of the ball has been a problem in away games all season. The opportunities played out for AZ were not too bad. Of course they had a great advantage.” Heracles, which is now waiting for a meeting with the last player PEC Zwolle, is twelfth in the Eredivisie with 23 points. The hole with the danger zone is 4 points.