AZ gives NEC another hangover and takes the win in Nijmegen

NOS Football•today, 2:13 PM

View the summary of NEC-AZ

After the hangover from the cup final loss against Feyenoord a week ago (0-1), NEC has had to deal with a new setback in the hunt for European football. The number six in the rankings could have passed number five Ajax if they won at home against AZ, but lost 3-0 to the Alkmaarders.

With the victory, AZ is almost certain of fourth place, which is good for the group stage of the Europa League. Ajax could still tie the score, but has a much worse goal difference.

NEC was very keen to quickly get rid of De Kuip’s disappointment and the team of coach Rogier Meijer showed this after ten seconds when Tjaronn Chery forced AZ goalkeeper Mathew Ryan to act. But that was it for a long time.

AZ offered even less in return, but through a coincidence they took the lead after fifteen minutes. A through ball from Vangelis Pavlidis ended up off the foot of NEC player Mees Hoedemakers at the feet of Dani de Wit, who then had little difficulty in capitalizing on the excellent opportunity: 0-1.

That was not the end of the setback for NEC, because halfway through the first half Philippe Sandler, labeled by some as the best man on the field during last week’s cup final, had to leave with apparently a hamstring injury.

After the opening goal by De Wit, captain in the absence of the injured Jordy Clasie, there was again little to do for either goal. The only scoring opportunity was for Kodai Sano, who put his head to a cross from Rober González, but failed to choose an angle.

In the second half, NEC went in search of a goal with striker Sontje Hansen for right back Brayann Pereira, which had been achieved in all fifteen competition games at home this season. However, it was again the efficient AZ that struck.

A pass from Ruben van Bommel, which allowed the offside Pavlidis to pass, was just kept in by Mees de Wit. His cross ended up with Pavlidis via the again unfortunate Hoedemakers, who beat goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen at the far post with a slide: 0-2.

The Greek, who overtook PSV’s Luuk de Jong on the top scorer list, scored his 27th league goal of the season, alongside AZ icon Kees Kist. He scored in 22 different matches in the Premier League in the 1978/1979 season and now has to share that club record with Pavlidis.

The home club was spared a bigger deficit because Sven Mijnans, after good preparatory work by Pavlidis, shot straight through and gave Cillessen the opportunity to turn the tide. On the other hand, Mathias Ross, Sandler’s replacement, did not fare much better.

NEC continued to look for openings in the Alkmaar defense, but they did not budge. On the contrary, AZ put the crown in extra time with substitute Ernest Poku’s 0-3.

AZ’s deficit to number three FC Twente is now five points again, knowing that coach Maarten Martens’ men will visit the team from Enschede next week. At the end of the day, third place will earn you a ticket for the preliminary round of the Champions League.