NEC had to take another blow a week after the lost cup final. The Nijmegen club lost 0-3 to AZ and, to make matters worse, lost Philippe Sandler with an injury.
Due to the defeat, NEC failed to regain fifth place from Ajax. With three rounds to go, coach Rogier Meijer’s team is two points behind the team from Amsterdam and later on Sunday they even drop to seventh place when FC Utrecht wins when they visit RKC Waalwijk.
Against AZ, Meijer fell back on the system with two attacking wingers. Rober Gonzalez was preferred over Sontje Hansen, who became a father this weekend. Brayann Pereira replaced Bart van Rooij, who dropped out in the cup final against Feyenoord (1-0 defeat) with a hamstring injury and will probably not play again this season.
Not the best match
It is difficult to conclude whether it was the after-effects of the cup final, but it was clear that NEC certainly did not play the best match of the season. The football was very rough, especially in the first half. Defensively it was fragile and little was created offensively.
The first was reflected in AZ’s 0-1 after more than fifteen minutes. Rober Gonzalez delivered the ball too easily, after which the visitors cut through the Nijmegen defense and Dani de Wit simply scored after an unfortunate moment by Mees Hoedemakers.
Just one big chance
NEC offered one big chance before half time. Kodai Sano had the ball to head in after Gonzalez’s cross, but his attempt was easy for Ryan. Furthermore, only Tjaronn Chery shot on goal once, but that was immediately after the kick-off. Ryan had more difficulty with his attempt from long distance.
The fact that NEC’s attacking drive was disappointing was also due to the retirement of Philippe Sandler. The defender, who is extremely important with his constructive qualities, was injured shortly after the 0-1 and left the field upset. It is still unclear what exactly he is suffering from.
Searching in the second half
NEC was also searching in the second half, and Meijer tried something different after ten minutes. Brayann Pereira was brought in for Sontje Hansen and surprisingly enough, Sano was posted in the right back position. But that also did not bring any relief for NEC.
A few minutes after that change, NEC was faced with an almost impossible task with AZ’s 0-2. Hoedemakers weakly cleared a cross from Mees de Wit, after which Vangelis Pavlidis cleverly fired the ball into the far corner. The NEC players protested about annoying offside for Pavlidis, but the VAR allowed the goal.
European football will be a difficult task
In an ultimate attempt to turn the match around, Meijer added an extra striker in the person of Sylla Sow, but NEC did not get any further than a cross from Hoedemakers that almost blew into the goal and a header from Koki Ogawa from the subsequent corner kick that went just wide. In the end it also became 0-3. Substitute Ernest Poku pushed the ball into an empty goal after three AZ players rushed towards Cillessen. Achieving direct European football is becoming an increasingly difficult task.
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Tags: NEC suffers defeat week cup final sees Sandler fall injured NEC
