Story Of The Games
The Ajax-PSV game was like basketball—it was one of the most non-stop entertaining games I’ve ever seen. But, unfortunately, the biggest story to come out of that game was not a goal or assist, but this tackle by PSV’s Ruben van Bommel on Ajax defender Aaron Bouwman. See replays of the tackle on the second slide of this post (you’ll have to first be patient as they show ~10 seconds of Van Bommel looking very guilty—but they then show multiple replays). I won’t mince words: it’s a terrible, terrible tackle.
This was punished with only a yellow card, which caused uproar in the Netherlands. In the above video, you can see Ajax defender Youri Baas come to Bouwman’s defense.
Bouwman suffered damage to his ribs and a lung. He’s out for a while.
One well-known pundit, Hugo Borst, even went so far as to say that Van Bommel should seek psychiatric help, which prompted an outrage on its own, with fans saying that yes, it was a terrible tackle, but Borst should have some respect.
Personally? Yes, it’s awful, and yes, it certainly should’ve been a red. But it clearly wasn’t on purpose, Van Bommel immediately recognizes what he’s done, immediately offers his apologies, and seems guilty as all hell after the fact. PSV coach Peter Bosz spoke about how that continued in the locker room; Van Bommel was the only player not celebrating the huge win. He also refused to speak in front of the cameras afterward, clearly out of shame. I don’t think the cavalry needs to come for Van Bommel, but I think he needs to get this penchant for poor tackles out of his system if he’s going to be a reliable player—I remember seeing RvB commit a similarly thoughtless challenge in the U21 European Championship against Portugal, which saw him get a red, forcing the Dutch to grind out a fortunate win. I saw someone make the point that Xavi (national team coach) is not going to want a player who risks getting sent off every time he steps onto the field.
I saw a comment that summarizes it best: “young player, dumb move, needs to learn to assess situations, not on purpose but definitely a red card.”
A Look At Each Game
This was a fair result. Both teams played well—but Sparta are the ones who are going to feel like they should’ve won here. They created 2.7 Expected Goals to PEC’s 1.0, and had a goal disallowed for a foul.
PEC brought Ibrahim Cissoko back to the Netherlands over the summer (he previously had played for N.E.C. from 2021-2023), and the Dutch-born Guinean player scored the 1-0 for PEC. See the goal here.
Sparta’s 2-1 was the first touch of the game for Isaac Babadi, a 21-year-old Dutch player who has a lot of potential. Sparta signed him about a week ago on loan from PSV with an option to buy (options to buy are becoming more and more common in loan deals, which is good, because it gives the loaning club a reason to invest time and effort into the player while he’s there), and you can already see “Ice-cold Icey,” as he was known to PSV fans, paying dividends. See the goal here.
I predicted 1-0 to Sparta. Unpredictable, such is soccer sometimes.
What an odd game. This was like a football game that ended 18-12, all from field goals, because the teams would march all the way down the field and then stutter in the red zone. In the first half, N.E.C. and Feyenoord were constantly attacking… but just couldn’t find the net. N.E.C. will feel like the scoreline is not representative of their play—they had 62% of possession, but only getting two shots on target from 12 total is further evidence that it just wasn’t their day. That’s sports; that’s life.
N.E.C. has amassed quite a bit of talent as they prepare for an unprecedented European season, but they already had Darko Nejašmić in their ranks. Their only goal in this game was this absolutely stunning hit from the Croatian: See the goal here.
Longtime Dutch soccer fans will remember the name Ruben Schaken from his time at Feyenoord from 2010-2015—well, get ready to feel old like I did. His son, Jerayno Schaken, made his debut for Feyenoord (he had been on their youth teams) in this game. Fast-forward to five minutes later, and he’s scored the 3-1 to seal the game for the Rotterdammers. A lovely finish. The 17-year-old is now the youngest player to score on their debut in the history of the Eredivisie. His name sits atop a list with names like Johan Cruijff and Marco van Basten. Not bad! See the goal here.
ESPN unearthed a video of little-kid Jerayno in an interview while father Ruben was a player, in which he says “I’m better than my father” in adorable fashion.
One of my favorite players in the Eredivisie is Feyenoord’s Luciano Valente. The Dutchman is a huge presence in the midfield, and I can see him becoming a star of the national team someday. One to continue watching this season.
I predicted 2-2—and you could argue that a tie would’ve better fit this game.
No one could’ve predicted this. After Go Ahead went up 3-0, Utrecht fans hooligans threw fireworks onto the field, causing a temporary suspension of the game. Utrecht then scored to make it 1-3, but then fans threw cups onto the field—a rule that the Dutch soccer association is not kidding around about—which led to the referee abandoning the game completely. It was then resumed three days later, at which point Utrecht clawed back to 3-3, including a penalty in the 90th minute. That’s going to leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Deventer club’s fans.
I’m pretty sure this is the first time that an abandoned game being resumed on a later date has led to a different result. Either way, this is causing a mini-uproar in the Netherlands; fans are complaining that the Utrecht hooligans were rewarded for their childish behavior. See the last-minute penalty goal for Utrecht here.
I predicted 3-1 for Go Ahead… so close! Almost!
WHAT A GAME. Remember the exhilarating Champions League games last season between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain? Well, this was like the Dutch version of that. You couldn’t take your eyes off of this one: both teams would gain possession, get their bearings, and go full-throttle attack mode. It was beautiful. The final score was 3-1, but Ajax definitely could’ve won this game if they had taken their chances; they had 19 shots with six on target compared to PSV’s 13 shots with five on target. This was the best Eredivisie game I think I’ve ever seen.
PSV opened the scoring with this great team goal; a beautiful cross from Ivan Perisic, a pinpoint header into the front of the goal by Ruben van Bommel, and the finish by the American up top, Ricardo Pepi. See an angle of the goal here.
Fan-favorite striker Tolu scored the equalizer in scrappy fashion. See the goal here.
This was Lutsharel Geertruida’s first major start for his new club, and he scored a pivotal goal right before halftime. That’s arguably the best time to score—you go into the locker room on a high, while your opponent brings a sour mood into a long 15 minutes. See an angle of the goal here.
I predicted 3-2 PSV, and Ajax will wish they had at least gotten that extra goal. When you look at this chance missed by Steven Berghuis, you could argue that they should’ve.
Excelsior’s magical run continues. This is a club that has spent its history bouncing between the Eredivisie and the 2nd division. A club that spent years as a satellite team of fellow Rotterdam club Feyenoord. Yes, the games they’ve won so far are not exactly against the league’s top tier (Cambuur, Sparta, and now Willem II), but they did hold champions PSV to a 2-1 win—a feat that Groningen, Utrecht, and Ajax have failed to meet in the games since.
It’s not often you see a goalkeeper assist a goal, but Stijn van Gassel did so here with a booming pass to Irakli Yegoian, and the Georgian (country, not state!) got past Tonny Vilhena to blast the ball into the net. See the goal here.
Look at Van Gassel and Yegoian here in this video—it’s really lovely to see how clearly bonded they are as teammates. Also, can anyone from TikTok tell me what in the world they were doing at the beginning of the video there?
Tonny Vilhena is a name that longtime fans of the Eredivisie will recognize—he spent seven years at Feyenoord before leaving for adventures in Russia, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Now 31, he’s back in the Eredivisie hoping to give Willem II a boost. He was unsuccessful here.
Guess who has two thumbs, speaks limited French, and predicted this exact result and scoreline? This moi! I shouldn’t pat myself on the back too much, though—this one wasn’t hard to predict.
An evenly matched game. Honestly, that’s exactly what you expect from these two teams. I thought Twente would pull out a 3-2 win, but ultimately I’m glad that points were shared. It’s worth noting, though, that Twente had more Expected Goals: 2.3 to Groningen’s 1.5. Don’t put too much stock into what is ultimately just another statistic, but if there’s a team that is feeling a bit zuur (sour) after this one, it’s Twente.
Right after Groningen goalie Etienne Vaessen talked a big game about being a player who could play for a top team… he goes and does this to gift Twente a goal. Not the greatest look for a keeper who’s otherwise having a tremendous season.
Twente’s tying goal was a nice finish by Wout Weghorst, who then met the ire of Vaessen for celebrating in front of the Groningen fans. Weghorst is extremely openly Christian—whether he does that authentically or for the attention is another story—and hence the pointing up. See the goal here.
Closer than I’d thought. This was my biggest whiff of the week, and perhaps of the entire season: I thought this would be a resounding 4-0 win for AZ. The ESPN+ commentator for this game mentioned multiple times that Heerenveen was AZ’s “biggest test” this season; that is maybe a little disrespectful to Go Ahead Eagles, but it makes the overall point that AZ, with their five wins to start the season, haven’t faced a true test yet. I’ve made that point in an earlier edition of this blog, that we won’t really see AZ tested until they play Sunderland in the Europa League next week. What is perhaps most stunning (or worrying, if you’re an AZ fan) is that they lost to Heerenveen on Expected Goals: 1.5 to 1.0. It would be a huge shame if AZ’s magical start to the season is all just a convincing mirage.
One of AZ’s stars this season has been Ro-Zangelo Daal, a winger who has scored four goals this season by doing the same thing over and over again. It reminds you of Arjen Robben, where you know exactly what he’s going to do, and yet you still can’t stop it. See his goal in this game here.
WHAT A GOAL by AZ’s Mexx Meerdink. This guy’s going to be a huge star one day, if he’s not met that classification already. And the ball, with the outside of the shoe? Baller Dot Com. See the goal here.
The winner was scored by the youngster Ayoub Oufkir with a very smart finish. He seems like an upstanding guy based on this interview, too. See the goal here.
Assuming he remains with the Netherlands national team—Oufkir holds dual citizenship with Morocco—he could be set to shine. Look at this great goal he scored for the Dutch U21s; at least he seems to be enjoying himself in Orange.
The Dutch need to stop the bleeding of players born-and-raised in the Netherlands choosing to play for Morocco. When I next write about Xavi (national team coach), one of his top goals should be to convince young dual citizens that choosing to play in Oranje is not akin to joining the Galactic Empire over the Rebel Alliance.
Wow, me, a Star Wars reference? Who would’ve thought!
Yes, I did have to search the correct names. Yes, I did search “death star people.” But we got there.
I can’t stop laughing at this. Imagine seeing that over your shoulder? “The white Usain Bolt,” the commentator calls this referee. The GIFs in the comments are great.
This is a toughie for Telstar. This is an opponent they really should be getting three points from, and it’s going to be a huge kick in the shin to only get one point at home to maybe the worst team in the league. Telstar had 2.1 Expected Goals to Cambuur’s 1.0. But maybe most frustrating for Telstar—and maybe why this isn’t a bad result for them after all—is that one of their players got a red card after only 22 minutes. And, by the way, it wasn’t exactly deserved… Fans are baffled that Van Bommel only received a yellow card in the PSV game, but this tackle is supposedly a red? Watch till the end to hear the English-speaking Telstar player, the Icelandic Nökkvi Þeyr Þórisson, say a very American-sounding “WTF?” See the tackle and his reaction here.
Telstar’s two goals came from penalties, and they made international news because both were taken and scored by none other than the Telstar goalkeeper, Ronald Koeman, Jr., son of former national team coach Ronald Koeman (what gave it away?). Telstar’s second penalty came in the last minutes of the game, prompting a strong reaction from Koeman and the home crowd in what was a frustrating day for the team from Velsen-Zuid.
See his first penalty here and his last-minute, point-saving penalty here.
This isn’t the first time he’s been Telstar’s penalty taker, by the way. See some previous penalty goals of Koeman’s here.
For anyone who’s really plugged in—doesn’t he sound exactly like his father?
I predicted 3-1 Telstar. But playing with a man down for three quarters of the game will do that to you.
Fortuna just keep balling. Fortuna and Excelsior are the surprises of the season so far, but if I had to guess which of them will keep it up through May, it’d be Fortuna. Beating a newly-promoted team like ADO isn’t usually so impressive, but it was 3-1 until the 90th minute, and Fortuna was able to grind out a win in a game where both teams produced 0.5 Expected Goals each (five goals from just one Expected Goal is truly incredible).
The 2-0 for Fortuna was a combination of two of their standout players: Mohamed Ihattaren and Lequincio Zeefuik. Keep it simple soccer: this was great by both of them. See the goal here.
Speaking of Ihattaren… in this game he was responsible for two goals and two assists. He is the driving force behind Fortuna’s early success. One of his goals was an incredible hit from distance. See the goal here.
The video doesn’t show it, but he goes up to the camera afterward and says “Mama, I love you.” Very sweet.
Bonus: Mid-Week Games
This week we saw two of the three games made up from Week 3, which saw the league delay games for Twente, N.E.C., and Ajax to help them prepare for their European qualifying matchups (Dutch teams doing well in Europe benefits everyone). Since they weren’t technically for Week 5, they don’t deserve graphics!
N.E.C. 2-2 Excelsior. This would’ve been Excelsior’s highest-ever place in the standings after five games… had they not let N.E.C. grab a last-minute equalizer. Still, it is unbelievable to say that Excelsior Rotterdam are currently 4th in the Eredivisie. This is a Cinderella story—the Loyola Chicago 2018 Final Four run, but make it Dutch soccer.
Twente 1-0 Telstar. Twente were supposed to win this game, so I can’t give them too much credit. It would’ve been a slightly more convincing 2-0 scoreline if Wout Weghorst hadn’t missed a penalty…
Power Rankings
AZ (-) can’t displace the only team that’s won all of their games.
PSV (-) a statement win this week over Ajax.
Fortuna (+1) how long can they keep this up?
Ajax (-1) they could’ve won this week against PSV. But they didn’t.
Excelsior (+3) amazingly, I have them ranked one spot lower than they are in the table. Wowza.
Feyenoord (-) they’ll be glad to have escaped this week with a win.
Go Ahead (-2) you have to imagine that without the game being abandoned, they would’ve won that game against Utrecht. Tough week for them.
Twente (+1) I don’t love ranking them this high, but they are on a decent run now.
Groningen (-2) a week of what ifs—they should’ve gotten all three points.
N.E.C. (-) yes, they lost, but having watched the game, that felt more down to bad luck than anything else.
Sparta (+1) I really like what I see from them. They’re so easy to root for this year.
PEC (-1) for a team that’s usually a pushover, the fact that they’re not this year is an accomplishment.
ADO (-) no shame in losing to this Fortuna team.
Heerenveen (+1) they should be higher on this list, but we’re gonna need the results. It’s a shame for them that they didn’t notch the upset against AZ.
Utrecht (-1) a huge improvement to score two goals and nab the point. Is this a sign of other improvements to come?
Telstar (-) same as Heerenveen; super disappointing to not get all three points this week.
Cambuur (+1) I have a feeling they’ll be swapping places with Willem II a few times in these power rankings. This is one of them. Finally, a point for Cambuur!
Willem II (-1) no shame in losing to Excelsior nowadays, but it’s still another L.
Usual disclaimer: 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
Our Champions League boys are up this week. And at the time of writing, we’ve already had one game.
Feyenoord against FC Barcelona 🇪🇸 (1-5)
Yeah, I mean, what are you going to do here? No one expected Feyenoord to stand a chance against this high-flying Barca team oozing with world-class talent. I would’ve predicted 4-0, I think. Just very little you can do here.
PSV against Shakhtar Donetsk 🇺🇦
This is one of the games where PSV should really get three points (no disrespect to Shakhtar, but they are one of the weaker teams PSV is facing this year). I’m hoping for a huge win for the Eindhovenaars, but I have a feeling they’ll scrape by with a 2-1 win. Let’s hope.
Oranje Corner
Hey, Xavi, don’t listen to the hullabaloo. Ruben van Bommel should be in your squad, no question.
He announces his first-ever team on the 18th of this month—I’ll write a Special Edition on who I think he should pick, and why. But especially if he’s thinking about the future, Van Bommel needs to be included. Everything this week was just noise.
Stray Thoughts
Ajax said goodbye to Mika Godts this weekend—it’s common for Dutch clubs to bring recently-departed players back for a true farewell/sending off. See the Ajax fans sing his name here.
What was your goal of the week? See the top three here. I say “top three,” but it’s absurd that Ihattaren’s goal (see ADO-Fortuna above) is not included here. Even he responded “[laughing emojis] ridiculous” in the comments when Fortuna tagged him and asked if he was free this weekend. I agree!
If you watch the ESPN+ broadcast of the N.E.C. game, they show clips from way before the game, of the home players just… rolling up to the stadium like they’re going to Home Depot. In England, the most you can hope for as a fan is seeing them drive by you into the stadium’s garage. Not here! You can see N.E.C.’s top players like Tadić and Chery stopping to pose for photos with the few kids/families who got there early for just that. Nijmegen seems like a lovely place to live; I love that most Dutch clubs are not global brands (special shoutout to my most-loathed
clubbrand, Tottenham Hotspur) and are instead community clubs. It’s what sports, and soccer especially, should be.Gjivai Zechiël did an interview with ESPN, and he’s just a very likable gozer (dude/guy). I’m in favor of Xavi selecting Oranje players who help create a good vibe within the team. And it helps that Zechiël is very talented.
I very much appreciate when players are Christian without making it their entire personality. In that second video, he mentions his talks with other players about God, but it’s clearly not his entire brand. Cough, Wout Weghorst, cough.
One fun exchange in that interview (first video, but I don’t know why I’m specifying unless you speak Dutch) with the legendary analyst Hans Kraay Jr.:
HKJ: You almost went to Lille! [the French club]
GZ: Says you!
HKJ: Says you too—
GZ: The media said that, mainly.
HKJ: Well, I’m not the media, I’m Hans.
Dutch humor at its finest.
GZ: That’s true.
For the first time since 1995, not a single home team won this weekend! I don’t know what that means (it means nothing) but it’s a fun fact. Did you have fun with that fact? I hope so!
Moment of Nature
This video was turned into a GIF, which became a worldwide meme (what does that word even mean anymore?) in a matter of hours. The referee calls the penalty for Telstar, which prompts the Cambuur player to, well, this. This had millions of views on Twitter and such. See the video/meme here.