The first week of the Ditch Eredivisie season was a thriller. There were comebacks and late goals. Red cards and penalties played a part and pretty much everywhere you looked you found an entertaining match. It was a great weekend of matches and now we move onto week two with the hope that it can be as much fun to watch as week one, but that will be a tall task.
Dutch Eredivisie, Matchday 2 Preview: Twente Vs. AZ Alkmaar Highlights Action In Holland
AZ Alkmaar will try to prove that they are an upper echelon team in the Eredivisie, but Twente stands in their way as they try to make a title challenge this season
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Most of the matches last week finished with expected results, even if may have been a little unexpected in how it got to that result. Ajax, AZ Alkmaar and Twente grabbed three points to get their seasons off on the right foot. PSV Eindhoven was the big surprise of opening weekend, not in that they dropped three points because they were going up against AZ, but in that they were completely dominated. Besides not wanting to be on zero points after two weeks, PSV will be looked to just put in a better shift and look like a halfway decent side.
Twente Enschede vs. AZ Alkmaar
Saturday, 12:45 pm ET
No team impressed more than AZ in week one, who went to PSV and came away 3-1 winners. It’s not as if they were supposed to be bottom of the table. They did finish fourth last year, after all, but there was this supposed clear gap between them and title challengers, Ajax, Twente and PSV. There didn’t look to be much of a gap last week though despite AZ losing several top players in the summer. This weekend will be another test for AZ as they try to prove themselves as title contenders.
Getting it done against Twente will be a challenge after they picked up a 1-0 win in their season opener. Led by Bryan Ruiz and Marc Janko up top, Twente will challenge the AZ back line. The AZ defense will be stretched wide and how they are able to cover the wings without giving acres of space in the middle will be the key to their success because their shape in the midfield was suspect for stretches against PSV.
Twente are still one of the leading title challengers to Ajax. That may change if anything comes of the rumors that say they will sell Ruiz, but as long as they have the Costa Rican they have a chance. Going away and getting a result against AZ will be tough, but just as AZ would like to prove they are title contenders, Twente can prove they can challenge Ajax by getting three points away.
Ajax vs. Heerenveen
Sunday, 8:30 am ET
Watch: ESPN3 in the United States
Ajax weren’t really troubled in their 4-1 season opening win over De Graafschap. Miralem Sulejmani scored twice as the defending champions rolled and now they get to go back home to Amsterdam ArenA to face a Heerenveen team that is trying to get back on track. In 2009 they finished fifth in the Eredevisie for the third straight season and won the KNVB Cup. They’ve followed that up with consecutive finishes outside of the top 10, but way to Ajax is probably not the place to try and start a run back up the table.
Other Matches
PSV Eindhoven vs. RKC Waalwijk - Saturday, 1:45 pm ET
Votesse Arnhem vs. VVV Venlo - Saturday, 1:45 pm ET
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs. Roda JC - Saturday, 2:45 pm ET
Heracles vs. NAC Breda - Sunday, 6:30 am ET
FC Utrecht vs. De Graafschap - 8:30 am ET
FC Groningen vs. ADO Den Haag - 10:30 am ET
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