Vito van Crooij is grateful to assistant coach Nourdin Boukhari for the plan prior to his quick opening goal in the home game against AZ (2-3). Last season’s kick-off between Fulham and Bournemouth proved to be the source of inspiration for the former midfielder’s plan.
“Boukhari was the inventor of this free kick. That is why I also went to him after the goal”, Van Crooij said afterwards in front of the camera of the NOS. “Well, then you also have to see how to implement it.”
Van Crooij was sent into the depths immediately after kick-off, AZ keeper Hobie Verhulst went around and shot in from a difficult angle. The kick-off resembled a kick-off by Bournemouth at the end of 2021 in the Championship game against Fulham. Back then, Dominic Solanke scored in almost the same way.
“We got it from that, yes”, said trainer Maurice Steijn ESPN. “Nourdin Boukhari deals with the standard situations in our staff and he came up with this variant. Then I also have to give my assistant the freedom to practice this.”
‘Yesterday I shot at the bar’
“We looked at those images of Bournemouth extensively and trained on them yesterday,” said Van Crooij. “Then I happened to shoot the bar, but luckily it went in today.”
With the quick opening goal, Van Crooij equaled Koos Waslander’s record. As a player for NAC, he scored eight seconds after kick-off against PEC Zwolle in 1982 (1-2 win).
Despite the special opening goal and a second goal by Van Crooij in the 59th minute, Sparta did not succeed in winning at Het Kasteel. AZ won 2-3 thanks to goals from Vangelis Pavlidis, Dani de Wit and Milos Kerkez.
For users of the app: tap the tweet above to view Vito van Crooij’s goal.