The Story Going In
Unexpectedly exciting games. With the Eredivisie showing surprising strength and increased parity, there are games this weekend that would’ve otherwise been ho-hum predictable outcomes. Nowadays, though, my interest is piqued. Let’s walk through those examples, with more details below in the A Look At Each Game section.
Twente against ADO. At any other point in history (at least that I can remember), Twente would be heavily favored to win this game; this year, I’m not so sure. Yes, they’re at home, but I wonder sometimes if that only increases the pressure to perform against a team you’re supposed to beat.
Fortuna against Ajax. This is a tasty matchup and a good test of how high Fortuna can fly. If this were the Ajax of yesteryear (and by that, I mean literally last year), I would predict Fortuna to win. But the Amsterdammers have simply stocked up on too much talent to be undone by Mohamed Ihattaren and Ole Romeny… you’d think. I also would’ve predicted that Fortuna stood no chance against AZ after Romeny earned a red card just five minutes into the game… but Fortuna, to their credit, kept that to a 1-0 scoreline up until the 90th minute. And thus, a game that I previously would’ve written off as one-sided now is one of the games I’m the most excited to watch unfold this week.
Excelsior against Utrecht. Based on reputation alone, you’d expect Utrecht to wiggle their way out of this one pretty confidently. But this season… Excelsior are one of the surprises under Ruben den Uil, while Utrecht have struggled mightily under Anthony Correia. This will be a good test for both teams: a win for Utrecht would be huge for momentum, while a win for Excelsior would further solidify them as contenders for a top-seven finish this season.
PEC against Feyenoord. PEC have looked unusually solid this season, which turns this from an easy win for Feyenoord into a game they’ll need to be at their best to win. In previous years, I wouldn’t have given this a second look.
PSV against Sparta. Can I just say, “ditto?” I know I’m starting to get repetitive. Same as Feyenoord, PSV should win this game regardless. But Sparta are one of this year’s sneaky-good teams. Just like PEC, it’s very possible Sparta nab a point from this one.
The Standings Going In
Teams with an asterisk have played one fewer game than the rest (Ajax and Willem II).
Key:
Purple: Champions; directly into the Champions League
Pink: into the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round (must beat two teams, or drop to the Europa League)
Blue: Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round (must beat three teams, or drop to the Conference League)
Green: Intra-league playoffs (place four against seven and five against six) for the Conference League 2nd Qualifying Round (must beat three teams)
Orange: Relegation playoffs (must beat the winner of the 2nd division promotion playoffs to stay in the Eredivisie)
Red: Relegated to the 2nd division, known as (for sponsorship reasons) the Keuken Kampioen Divisie (KKD)
15 — AZ
13 — PSV
11 — Feyenoord
10 — Excelsior
10 — Twente
10 — Fortuna
8 — Go Ahead
7 — Ajax*
7 — N.E.C.
7 — Groningen
5 — Sparta
5 — Heerenveen
4 — PEC
4 — Telstar
2 — Utrecht
1 — Willem II*
1 — ADO
1 — Cambuur
Imagine Excelsior and/or Fortuna in Europe next season. How cool would that be?
Yes, it’s early, but 10th-place Groningen is theoretically one win away from 4th.
Look, I mean, I don’t think Utrecht will get relegated or anything, but what a scary sight for a club that really should be competing for Europe.
A Look At Each Game
A practice game for AZ. Anything less than a 3-goal win by AZ would be a shocker. The top team in the standings against arguably the worst team in the league? Yeah. This’ll be great fodder for the electric AZ offense to increase their goal tally. I can see Ro-Zangelo Daal grabbing a couple goals or assists. If they only win by one or two goals—you can tell how unlikely I think a tie or loss would be—that would be a huge, huge warning sign for the team from Alkmaar. This should effectively be a confidence booster before a huge game in the midweek against English club Sunderland in the Europa League. 4-0 AZ.
Twente better be careful… Fortunately for them, Feyenoord’s 2-2 tie with ADO gave the rest of the league the warning sign that Robin Peter’s team are no pushover. Twente still have a lot to prove, and this game would show that they are indeed progressing. Anything less than a win, and panic bells will be ringing in Enschede. What do I think? Well, I think Twente are not going to be able to rest easy for a second this season due to how much of their success relies on the productivity of 34-year-old Wout François Maria Weghorst. It makes them tough to predict—but they have the talent to scrape by in this one. 2-1 Twente.
I wish this one was being televised here. You see the word “intriguing” thrown around a lot in soccer coverage, and that’s exactly how I’d describe this game. Joseph Oosting’s Go Ahead will be looking for a pick-me-up after blowing a lead to a down-on-their-luck Utrecht team this past week. But so will Dick Lukkien’s Groningen, who have fallen off after a great start to the season. I have a feeling this one will have a lot of goals, but Go Ahead have more hot players right now (Søren Tengstedt, Victor Edvardsen, and the Belgian Mathis Suray) who can pull off the win. 3-2 Go Ahead.
Oooooooooooo. Fortuna’s Big Test. The Final Boss of their season so far. Can they do the unthinkable? Winning against this Ajax team would be their crown jewel. The last time Fortuna have beaten Ajax? The turn of the millennium: March, 2000. Over 26 years ago. That’s how huge this would be for them. And that doesn’t even mention how a win here would shoot them up to surely a top-three place in the standings. Fortuna’s highest-ever finish in the Eredivisie since the two clubs Fortuna ‘54 and Sittardia combined to create the club you see before you today: 7th, last achieved in 1998. You could argue that Fortuna are lucky to be welcoming Ajax to Sittard at a time when Ajax have not yet reached their final form; all of the incoming talents have yet to be puzzle-pieced together by coach Míchel Sánchez. Unfortunately, I’m not sure fortune favors Fortuna in this one. 4-2 Ajax.
This should be easy for N.E.C.… but the word “should” is doing a lot of work after their Week 1 loss to Willem II. I’m tempted to make this all dramatic—will they? won’t they?—but deep down, I know it’s silly to put stock into the first week of the season. Teams are still figuring out the kinks. Even though they’re the away team in Leeuwarden, this should be business as usual for N.E.C. Just like how AZ’s game should be a confidence boost before Sunderland, this should be the same for N.E.C. before they visit the legendary Juventus in Turin. 3-0 N.E.C.
This could go either way. As I mentioned in the recap of last week, Excelsior fans should exhibit caution that any celebrations and expectations may be premature, as they have yet to face many of the best teams in the league. With Utrecht sitting on only two points, you can’t really argue this is the start of that—but winning here would represent a continued ability to beat teams that are a half-step up from them in terms of talent. This is another one I really wish was televised. Fortunately for Utrecht coach Anthony Correia, news reports have trickled in that show support for him from the Utrecht leadership, despite the horrific start to the season. Notching a win over Ruben den Uil would be huge. I have no idea how this will go. I’m very tempted to get up early on Sunday and find a very legal (you know I’m going to stay within the bounds of the law when I say “very”) way to watch this one live. Actually, I think Utrecht fans continue to get teased with a mere point. 1-1.
A Heerenveen win… right? In reality, this one should have been mentioned at the top of this post, but Heerenveen are such a topsy-turvy team (they beat who they shouldn’t, and lose to who they shouldn’t) that I don’t think anyone would comfortably predict a Heerenveen win, even if this Telstar team weren’t still sneaky good considering the talent at their disposal. I have a feeling Telstar snatch a point here… even though this will likely just be a Heerenveen victory. 1-1.
Are Feyenoord better than they look? Despite losing 5-1 to Barcelona in the Champions League, reactions were positive (you can only do so much when playing against one of the best teams in the world, if not the best)—it looks like they’ve finally found a quality successor to Arne Slot in coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst. If Feyenoord have any aspirations of fighting for the title, these are the games they need to be winning. For this one, I think they do. 4-1 Feyenoord.
Can Sparta pull off an upset? It’s possible. This is very much a trap game for PSV; Sparta have the talent (although it’s a shame that the promising midfielder Robin van Cruijsen is currently injured) to punish a PSV still reeling from a disappointing tie with Shakhtar in the Champions League. New Sparta loanee Isaac Babadi will be eager to show his parent club PSV that he’s worthy of their level; I personally enjoy the fact that the Eredivisie doesn’t have the rule that loaned players cannot play against their parent club (looking at you, England!). PSV will have to watch for the counterattack: Sparta winger Mitchell van Bergen is one of the fastest players in Europe, and he’ll have the 6’6” striker Milan Zonneveld to aim for in front of the goal. But… I have a feeling that PSV are too good to let this one slip. 3-1 PSV.
One Player To Know
When I first had the mere thought of making this blog—admittedly a full three years ago—Steven Berghuis was the obvious choice for a player to highlight. For a couple years, he was a main character of Dutch soccer: his move from Feyenoord to Ajax was extremely controversial. If I haven’t said this yet (I don’t think I have): Ajax and Feyenoord are hated rivals. We’re talking like Yankees/Red Sox, Alabama/Auburn, Lakers/Celtics (from back in the day). People have literally died because of this rivalry. You can only imagine the sentiments around Berghuis leaving Feyenoord for Ajax, especially because it solidified the dominance of Ajax in Dutch soccer at the time, as they were on track to becoming the “Bayern Munich of the Netherlands.” Berghuis also had the responsibility of taking the second penalty against Argentina at the 2022 World Cup. We all know how that turned out. Unfortunately for the player himself—and unrelated to him specifically—the Ajax Golden Age only lasted for one more year, because in February 2022, Ajax GM Marc Overmars (the brain behind the excellent player recruitment and success) resigned in scandal. But hasn’t everyone lost a job because they were sending photos of their genitals to women who worked beneath them?1 Anyway, Berghuis is very technically talented; his left foot can provide a great through-ball or curled shot at a moment’s notice. He’s not very fast, but he’s a creative player who you want in the team. With all the talent that Ajax have got, his place in the starting 11 is a sign of the special qualities the 34-year-old possesses.
Moment of Nature
Fireworks in European soccer are nothing new—but it’s an issue that has gotten out of hand in the Netherlands. After last week’s Go Ahead-Utrecht game, in which a combination of fireworks and cups thrown onto the field led to the game being abandoned, the Dutch soccer federation has had enough. They’ve now said that games will be definitively abandoned at the first sign of fireworks. This actually comes after the Dutch government banned fireworks as a whole, making it illegal for private individuals to buy, sell, or set them off. Personally, I think that’s great; fireworks are dangerous and can lead to permanent bodily harm. Shoutout to the government’s Party for the Animals for getting that going.
I haven’t, personally. But that’s just me.