Dutch Eredivisie overview

By: Jan | September 28th, 2008

Marco van Basten thanks his man of the match Vertonghen

Well, FC Groningen did it again. The Pride of the North leads the standings in Holland after beating Feyenoord (3-1) for the fourth season in a row.

This time around, it did needed some help to get started. Feyenoord center back Kevin Hofland was red carded after 10 minutes, allowing Groningen to take the lead early in the game. With an outstanding Henk Timmer, again, Feyenoord kept in the game and even dominated more in the second half with huge chances for Makaay, Tomasson and Biseswar. But instead of equalizing, it was Markus Berg scoring the 2-0. Bahia scored for Feyenoord in the 87th minute but all hope had gone when Berg scored his second goal in the dying moments of the game.

Gertjan Verbeek was actually not that disappointed: “The team played well, actually. It’s too bad we couldn’t get back into the game despite our chances, but that’ how it is. I’m not sure if Hofland actually touched Berg when he was red carded, but it doesn’t matter. He did stop him illegally and then you know a red card is the option. I can’t blame anyone though. Players make choices. Sometimes the wrong ones, but that’s so easy to say after a game.”

It does seem Henk Timmer will be out for the UEFA cup game coming Thursday. The goalie was taken off with an injury and 39 year old Rob van Dijk was his replacement.

FC Groningen leads the standings now, with PSV close behind.

FC Twente, NAC and AZ all won their games, with AZ Alkmaar at long last again impressing with good football.

Ajax played Vitesse in the Arena, and Ajax started the game very slow. Belgium midfielder Jan Vertonghen was the man of the match, with two goals. He came from Ajax’ branche club Germinal Beerschot where he worked with Simon Tahamata: “He was instrumental for my development. He tought me to command the ball and that gives me so much confidence and time during a game. I feel like I’ve played the Ajax system all my life and that helped me a lot! I remember Wesley Sonck here, a great striker, but he couldn’t settle into the Ajax system and failed here.”

Eyong Enoh was another remarkable player against Vitesse and he too came from an Ajax branche: Ajax Cape Town in South Africa. After Benni McCarthy and Steven Pienaar he is the third gem to come from that affiliation.

Gregory van der Wiel played a tremendous role as well, with two assists after bringing himself into midfield. “Ajax loaned me out to Haarlem and that was my wake up call. I was a good player but a horrible puber with a big mouth then. I learned to be humble at Haarlem and I’ll never forget that lesson.”

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