Top Stories of the Games
Perr Schuurs. Not to spoil things you’ll read below, but what a story this weekend (video in English!):
Who is going to stop AZ Alkmaar? This is only the 4th time ever that AZ have won their first four games. One of those times, they won the title.
So who can do it? Well, their next two games are against Heerenveen and Willem II; anything but two wins there would be a shocker with how they’ve been playing. Which means that the next real test for AZ is a European one: against English side Sunderland in the middle of September.
It is looking very likely that AZ Alkmaar will be leading the table after six games with six wins and a maximum-possible 18 points. Who would’ve thought? I mean, we knew they would do well this year with their sneakily-talented squad. But this will have the people of Alkmaar dreaming of only their third-ever title: the previous two came in 1981 and 2009.
A Look At Each Game
This was the classic Fortuna game. Groningen had 68% of the ball. They had 23 shots to Fortuna’s nine. They had 1.9 expected goals (xG) compared to Fortuna’s 0.9. None of it mattered. This is how Fortuna and manager Danny Buijs would like to win every game. Notably, though, Fortuna had five of their shots on goal compared to Groningen’s… two. As great of a result this is for Fortuna, this is on Groningen for not taking their chances. 23 shots, and only one goal (the other was an own goal)? Pff. This was my biggest whiff of the week: I thought Groningen would take this game 3-1.
This was a beautiful opening goal for Fortuna, and exactly why they brought in the strong and quick Lequincio Zeefuik (the creator of this goal). I’ve mentioned Mohamed Ihattaren a few times before… he’s been a (dramatic) longtime fixture of Dutch soccer, and he makes no new fans here by not thanking Zeefuik for setting him up so cleanly, instead running straight to the camera… an action that visibly annoys Zeefuik as well:
Groningen’s equalizer in this game—the only goal they scored—was beautifully worked, starting with their goalkeeper, Etienne Vaessen, who is maybe the best ball-playing goalie in the league right now.
Hey, remember that Zeefuik fellow I just mentioned? Well, this is the third time he’s been loaned out to a different team by his club AZ. This was a game where he showed why AZ are holding on to him. Look at this phenomenal finish:
A win secured in literally the last minute. What a way for Excelsior to win this Rotterdam derby! This was the winning goal—always fun for that to happen for the home team, as we get to see the stadium erupt:
I predicted a 2-2 draw in this game precisely because I’m impressed with Ruben den Uil’s Excelsior team. But I was hesitant to predict for them to win. Granted, there was some drama in the Sparta dressing room before the game—coach Rogier Meijer left out star player Ayoni Santos because “his head was not at Sparta.” Santos made a transfer to PSV Eindhoven in the ensuing days.
One Excelsior player I’m rooting for is Aymen Sliti, who they loaned from fellow Rotterdam club Feyenoord (what a great situation for Sliti, who gets regular playing time without having to move to a new city!). He’s a talented player who could break out this season with consistent minutes. He scored the first of Excelsior’s goals, this bomb of a strike:
AZ are unstoppable. No one is going to stop them. I’m convinced. This was supposed to be a tough game for them; I predicted they’d eke out a 3-2 win. Nope! Add two more goals on top of that. Go Ahead looked in the game when it was 1-1, but even the first 15 minutes were foreshadowing a game where AZ controls, attacks, and dominates. Who the fuck is going to stop them? I watched this game—as I do the ones that are aired on ESPN+—and I couldn’t wait to show you some of the goals. Here’s the opener, a straight-up banger:
Speaking of bangers… this was AZ’s fourth:
And this was the fifth goal, the icing on the cake—Ro-Zangelo Daal with a peach of a finish. I’ve told you to watch out for him before, but seriously, remember the name… Watch AZ and you’ll immediately notice the trickster with ball-glue on his shoes. Leeroy Echteld, the AZ coach, said this came after a kerfuffle on the practice field. Echteld, by the way, seems like a fantastic fellow and the exact coach this young AZ team needs. Anyway, I digress. Look at this finish:
The scoreline here is deceiving. Yes, I predicted a 2-1 win for N.E.C., and this score makes it seem like they dominated further. But the expected goals (xG) here was actually in PEC’s favor: 2.0-1.9. This game also featured not one, not two, not three, but four penalties; N.E.C. scored both of theirs while PEC only nabbed one goal from their two penalty kicks. This chaotic game also featured two PEC goals called off thanks to the video-assistant referee. PEC will feel hard done by this score, and they deserved at least a point. Of all the supposed bottom-feeder teams, PEC is seeming like the cream of that crop. Maybe that’s why Arne Slot decided to come watch his hometown club.
One of N.E.C.’s goals, though, gave many people kippenvel, or goosebumps (the Dutch word translated literally is “chicken skin”). Perr Schuurs, a player who will be the player to know in next week’s preview, was a gifted player with Ajax before moving to Italian club Torino in search of consistent playtime. But it was there that he suffered a severe ACL tear, which was followed by surgical complications and setbacks, leading to his contract being mutually terminated. Schuurs signed with N.E.C. this summer to begin his comeback, and his substitute appearance in this game was his first competitive game in 1,043 days. And then, three minutes after he joins the field, he scores a goal—look at the joy that is just bursting out of him. As the Dutch commentator says, Schuurs almost doesn’t even know how to celebrate. It cuts to the audience where you can see his mother and his girlfriend shedding tears of joy at this moment. Kippenvel. Here’s the goal below; more scenes of Schuurs being lifted up by his teammates can be seen here; in the postgame interview Schuurs says, “it still feels like I’m dreaming.” There’s a clip of his former Ajax teammate, former N.E.C. player, and Eredivisie legend Lasse Schöne saying, “this is what sport does to you” about all this emotion and this beautiful story. I’m rooting for Schuurs to have a spectacular season with N.E.C.
We knew this would happen… and yet… the storylines we knew would continue (PSV good, Utrecht bad) are further etched in stone by this game. At minute 85, this game was 3-1 for PSV; a respectable scoreline for Utrecht against the three-peat champions. But 6-1 is a score that deepens the wounds felt by Utrecht so far this season. Do I believe Anthony Correia will make it work, eventually? I do. But I’m not sure he will be given the time. The temperature of his seat is sweltering. I wish I could say it’ll get easier for Correia and Utrecht, but looking at their upcoming schedule (Go Ahead at home, Excelsior away, Feyenoord away, Willem II at home) only that latter game feels like a guaranteed three points. Coming out of their next four games with four points might not be enough for Correia to keep his job. It’s good to see comments strictly supporting the coach and arguing (very fairly) that this is a subpar squad (it is). But it feels like we’re creeping closer and closer to a heartbreaking divorce between Correia and Utrecht. There was a moment in this game, I think just before the clock hit the 14th minute, where Utrecht were trying to play out of the back (in true Correia-style) and the keeper gave his defender a chipped pass, which the defender struggled to control before losing the ball to an opponent for a throw-in. You then see the defender chirp a bit at his keeper. And herein lies the issue. Correia was playing in this manner last season with Telstar, a team far less talented than Utrecht, and his Telstar defenders were controlling difficult passes with ease. The Utrecht defender I’m talking about is fully able to control the ball in that situation; but he wasn’t composed. He panicked. So much of the secret sauce for Telstar last season is that each player had the composure of a champion. That’s a trait harder to teach when you’re not a highly-regarded club legend like he was at Telstar. For many Utrecht players, he’s just a coach that they need to wait out. Let’s hope, for Correia’s sake, that this doesn’t happen. It’s notable, by the way, that Correia beat champions PSV in both of their league matchups last year. Nothing is ever as straightforward as it may seem.
There were some great goals in this one. Ruben van Bommel’s path to superstardom continues1:
Sven Mijnans, who PSV bought from AZ over the summer, missed a penalty in this game—what would’ve been his first Eredivisie goal for PSV. But then, not a minute later, Mijnans makes up for it and does this:
Feyenoord did not pass the test! We knew one of these weeks that a mighty team would fall to ADO Den Haag. I just didn’t think it would be this one. I predicted that Feyenoord would nab a 3-1 win. They simply ooze talent, especially in comparison to ADO. But it mattered not. It truly is something to see ADO, a newly-promoted team, attempt to play like Manchester City or PSG when they have the ball. That’s really what makes the Eredivisie so exciting. But I mean, look at this goal. This is a team.
This is absolutely a spectacular result for ADO, but it’s tough to say they earned it. Yes, they attempt to play exciting, attacking soccer—I only expect them to improve as the season goes on and they get used to the different level of the Eredivisie—but they only had 29% of the ball at halftime. Feyenoord had 33 shots, with 12 on target. ADO had eight shots with three on target. Feyenoord had 2.5 xG to ADO’s 0.2. Feyenoord completed 618 passes, ADO a mere 275. But: both teams scored two goals. Them’s the breaks, sometimes. A huge, huge amount of credit to the Burkinabé ADO goalkeeper, Kilian Nikiema.
A quick-cut of his 10 (!) saves in this game:
But, unfortunately for him, he couldn't stop this beauty:
Welp. I thought Heerenveen would run away with this one with a 3-0 scoreline. I literally wrote in my preview:
All three of the Eredivisie newbies have a combined zero points. ADO is the team that’s most likely to break that streak, not Willem II.
I would genuinely be shocked if Willem II get a result here.
Turns out, Willem II matched ADO, to my great shock. It raises the question: are Willem II decent or are Heerenveen bad? To even greater shock from yours truly, Willem II produced more xG than Heerenveen: 1.7-1.4. Is the world ending? Are winged swine populating our skies? Not exactly. A Heerenveen fan will tell you this is typical: win against teams you’re not supposed to, lose against the teams you should win against. Longtime readers may remember my mention of Dylan Vente as one of Heerenveen’s key players—not so much anymore. Fans are calling for his head after this performance. Willem II fans, on the other hand, are very pleased with this point.
This feels like a good time to spotlight that Willem II of Tilburg, known as the Tricolores because of their red-white-blue colors,2 purposefully removed shirt sponsors from this year’s jersey, which they managed to somehow turn into double of their sponsor revenue. Witchcraft, yes, but it’s given us this beauty of a shirt:
Ajax are so fun to watch. Gone are the days of keeping the ball for possession’s sake. When Ajax have the ball, the players are looking to attack. To score. This is what we all imagine and expect from the club synonymous with Johan Cruijff and the Total Football (Total Soccer?) that gave the Dutch their fame. I was surprised to not see Telstar knock one in—I predicted a 4-1 Ajax victory after all, and Telstar had 1.1 xG—but Ajax got the three points, and they looked good doing it. Now’s a great time to be an Ajax fan, that’s for sure. Their new GM, Jordi Cruijff, is performing minor miracles. There was one moment during this game that convinced me that we’re in for something special this year: Oscar Gloukh looking up after receiving the ball to find Steven Berghuis for the 2-0. I cannot tell you how frustrating it’s been to watch Gloukh continually choose to do it all himself instead of looking up to find the pass. No coach last season made him do this. Míchel Sanchez did. In each counter-attack, Ajax players are making team-first decisions at every turn. Ajax fans will be pleased. They’ll also be pleased to see Marcos Leonardo finally put one in the back of the net—hopefully now the 17.5 million euro man can relax into playing like he’s used to.
Business as usual for Twente. I thought they’d win 3-0—but this is functionally the same. As I said in the preview, Cambuur are not the team that’s going to test Twente or give them trouble. Cambuur are now the only team in the league still without any points, after both ADO and Willem II snatched a point apiece. Twente’s goals were scattered across the team, scored by their striker (Wout Weghorst), a winger (Marko Pjaca), an attacking midfielder (Younes Taha), and their up-and-coming star defender Ruud Nijstad. Maybe this is the beginning of a climb up the standings for Twente, whose next few games include matchups with Telstar and ADO, two games they should win.
Pff, the goal from the defender Nijstad might be the most beautiful of them all…
And here’s something you don’t see every day: a goal assisted by the keeper!
Nijstad’s may have been the best goal… but this was the best assist. Look at the skill from the Norwegian winger Sondre Ørjasæter. I remember when Ørjasæter was brought in, his transfer fee (around 5 million euros) was one of the highest amounts Twente had ever paid for a player—but boy, that Twente scouting department deserves a raise. This is world-class stuff:
Power Rankings
AZ (-) — they still look unstoppable.
PSV (+3) — any early season struggles are behind them.
Ajax (-) — they have way too much talent to sink below the top 3 here.
Fortuna (+2) — let’s see if they can keep this up, though.
Go Ahead (+2) — yes, they lost 5-2, but it was away from home against the #1 team.
Feyenoord (-2) — I was tempted to sink them further, but maybe this is just bad luck?
Groningen (-5) — this is a steep fall, but the worry is that the honeymoon is over.
Excelsior (+3) — I’m tremendously impressed with their win this week.
Twente (+4) — they might be putting this together. They have the talent. TBD.
N.E.C. (-1) — this week’s win wasn’t as convincing as the score suggests.
PEC (+4) — I like what we’re seeing from them so far.
Sparta (-2) — tough loss this week. But they’ll bounce back.
ADO (+1) — this’ll be a huge boost for belief in the locker room that they can do even more.
Utrecht (-2) — they are still bad, but you can tell they’re improving.
Heerenveen (-7) — that’s what happens when you tie with Willem II, sorry.
Telstar (-) — hard to move them up after losing 4-0, but they still are a fun team to watch.
Willem II (+1) — let’s see if they can prove this wasn’t a fluke.
Cambuur (-1) — the only team in the league with zero points.
I should be clear, that my power rankings are not representative of the standings. This is about momentum and vibes, not about how many points you’ve collected. That being said, for context, here are the standings after this week:
European Corner
We have six (6) Dutch clubs in Europe this season! Shoutout to FC Twente, who defied both the odds and my disbelief to qualify for the Conference League. Last week, the draws were made, and each team found out who they’re facing.
PSV — Champions League
Home games:
Atletico Madrid 🇪🇸
Club Brugge 🇧🇪
Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦
VfB Stuttgart 🇩🇪
Away games:
Real Madrid 🇪🇸
FC Porto 🇵🇹
RB Leipzig 🇩🇪
Viking FK 🇳🇴
I think PSV should get wins against Brugge, Donetsk, and Viking, putting them at 9 points already — a tie with Stuttgart would put them at 10, which should be enough to continue in the competition. That would mean losses against both Madrid clubs, Porto, and Leipzig, which all sound plausible. Porto coach Francesco Farioli beat Peter Bosz’s PSV twice with a far inferior Ajax squad two seasons ago.
Feyenoord — Champions League
Home games:
Inter Milan 🇮🇹
FC Porto 🇵🇹
RB Leipzig 🇩🇪
Como 🇮🇹
Away games:
Barcelona 🇪🇸
Real Betis 🇪🇸
Galatasaray 🇹🇷
Viking SK 🇳🇴
I’ll be honest: I don’t see how Feyenoord make it past the initial league phase. I could see them winning against Viking, but beyond that, they’d be lucky to tie any of the other games. They didn’t make the necessary splashes in the transfer window to justify any expectations in Europe’s premier club competition. A shame.
AZ — Europa League
Home games:
Juventus 🇮🇹
Dinamo Zagreb 🇭🇷
Sturm Graz 🇦🇹
Hapoel Beer-Sheva 🇮🇱
Away games:
Benfica 🇵🇹
Sparta Prague 🇨🇿
Sunderland 🏴
Ararat-Armenia 🇦🇲
I’d rather swap AZ and Feyenoord’s games. I will admit I know nothing about most of these teams here, but I think AZ should notch wins against Hapoel, Sturm Graz, Sparta Prague, and Ararat. That’s 12 points right there, but all of these games are winnable. AZ could win this competition if they play in Europe like they’ve been playing domestically.
N.E.C. — Europa League
Home games:
Benfica 🇵🇹
Stade Rennais 🇫🇷
Omonia Nicosia 🇨🇾
Levski Sofia 🇧🇬
Away games:
Juventus 🇮🇹
Dinamo Zagreb 🇭🇷
NK Celje 🇸🇮
Ararat-Armenia 🇦🇲
Our team from Nijmegen got a pretty decent draw here. They should win against Omonia, Levski, Ararat, and Celje—12 points already. I don’t think they’ll beat Benfica or Juventus, but Dinamo and Rennais will be great games and more opportunities for points. Also, we should just recognize how crazy it is that N.E.C. Nijmegen is playing a European game in Turin against Juventus, one of the most legendary clubs in Europe. The N.E.C. fans who travel for that game will have an experience they’ll never forget, regardless of the scoreline.
FC Twente — Conference League
Home games:
Pafos 🇨🇾
Kairat Almaty 🇰🇿
Thun 🇨🇭
Away games:
SC Freiburg 🇩🇪
Lincoln Red Imps 🇬🇮
Aarhus GF 🇩🇰
This is absolutely doable for Twente. Freiburg will be tough, but every other game is winnable; I think one of the more talented clubs in the Netherlands should be able to beat any club from Gibraltar and Kazakhstan, with respect, especially if they continue to gel—I say this, but Twente were almost knocked out by an Azerbaijani team in the last qualifying round. I shouldn’t diminish other nations. That being said, Twente should cruise into the next round.
Ajax — Conference League
Home games:
Atalanta 🇮🇹
Getafe 🇪🇸
Thun 🇨🇭
Away games:
Midtjylland 🇩🇰
Sint-Truiden 🇧🇪
Hajduk Split 🇭🇷
You have got to be kidding me. Are Ajax and Twente playing in the same competition? Gone are the clubs I have to google to see what country they’re from. Statistically, Ajax got the most difficult draw of teams to face out of any club in this competition. By far. I still think Ajax should be able to make it through to the next round of the Conference League, especially with this impressive squad they’ve amassed, but it’s a little more questionable after this draw. But they should beat Thun, Sint-Truiden, and Split. They should also beat Getafe and Midtjylland. I would bet on Ajax making it through—but I really have no idea how exactly they’re going to cobble together the necessary points. On paper, they have the talent to win all of these games. But also, on paper, they should’ve beaten FC Sion 12-2 over two games in the qualifying rounds, not 9-5. Let’s hope for the best here.
Oranje Corner
There’s a lot of discussion around who Xavi should pick—many are naming a lot of Eredivisie players, since Xavi has signed a four-year contract and has the opportunity to look further than just the coming year. But… I think it would be a mistake to get excited about the youths too quickly. The players of the English Premier League are there because they’re the fastest, strongest, and most talented. The worst team in the PL would be a top-10 team, at minimum, in any other league.
Do I think he should look toward the Eredivisie for a few selections? Sure. Feyenoord’s Gjivai Zechiël is clearly talented and deserves to be called up. Same with PSV’s Ruben van Bommel. But suggesting that Xavi should be looking at AZ’s Wouter Goes—a fine player, no doubt—is ludicrous considering the wealth of Dutch riches we have at our disposal for defensive positions.
But, that being said, I think there’s a lot of innovation to happen in international soccer. Everyone likens it to club soccer, as if they’re just different sides of the same coin—they’re not. I support Xavi making some unconventional choices. I just want everything to be in service of a North Star of winning.
Stray Thoughts
Which was your goal of the week? (You’ve seen them all in the above, but why not watch them again?)
How is it possible to miss this (from the Dutch second division):
What a goal from the Dutch-American (hey!) Austyn Jones in the second division for Jong PSV3:
Another fun goal, this time from the legendary (he’s not legendary because he’s the best of all time or anything, but he’s a very sociable and likable striker who is 6’7”) Hank Veerman.
Notable: the Ajax coach says (in English) that youngster defender Aaron Bouwman could become the next Virgil van Dijk. From what I’ve seen of Bouwman, I believe it. He radiates composure. Now how do we adapt the chant, “Cool as you like, it’s Virgil van Dijk” for Bouwman?
It’s the most Dutch thing ever for Twente coach John van den Brom to respond to a moody player upset to be subbed with “be normal!” I imagine Weidmann will start from the bench next week.
Moment of Nature
Time for a quick history lesson: this Groningen game fell on August 28th, a local holiday in the Groningen region that celebrates the Dutch victory at the Siege of Groningen in 1672. Naturally, Groningen fans created a banner (technically called a “tifo”) to honor the strategic mastermind behind that successful siege: Karel Rabenhaupt (AKA Carl von Rabenhaupt).
I always love seeing Ruben van Bommel excel like this, because it took just a couple games of me seeing him play for AZ to declare that he was the next up. Many disagreed (there are Twitter receipts out there), but I stood by what I saw in him. Is this my calling to be a soccer scout? I wish.
The three colors are modeled after the Dutch flag; Willem II is a club named after a former Dutch king, William II (1792-1849), who had his military headquarters in Tilburg, spent a lot of his time in the city after becoming king, and died there.
I’ll discuss this in more detail one day, I’m sure… So, the major Dutch clubs have reserve/youth teams (U23) that have made it all the way to the Dutch 2nd division. They’re all called “Jong AZ” or “Jong PSV,” with “jong” predictably meaning “young.” They cannot be promoted—as we saw when Jong Ajax won the division a few years back—but they’re ideal for the major clubs to be able to play competitive soccer for their youngest players.