AZ has crawled through the eye of the needle. It was difficult against Cambuur, partly due to two rejected goals: 2-1. Vangelis Pavlidis and Wouter Goes (his first) were accurate for AZ, Björn Johnsen scored against.
The first chance of the game was for the Alkmaarders, who started unchanged against Cambuur. Yukinari Sugawara was able to play, his bet was turned by Robbin Ruiter from Volendam. Then the Frisians handed out a number of pin pricks via Björn Johnsen (turned by Mathew Ryan) and Michael Breij. AZ took over the initiative again and could have reached 1-0 through Vangelis Pavlidis.
However, the Greek headed wide of the goal from close range. Moments later it happened again, after he missed a cross from Sugawara. AZ took the lead just before half-time. Three times turned out to be a charm for Pavlidis, who shot the ball into the goal from the edge of sixteen: 1-0. Jens Odgaard doubled the score with a header. This time Ruiter was a spoilsport.
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The game had barely resumed after the break, when the game was stopped again. That was due to ‘fans’ of AZ, who threw fireworks on the field. Referee Marc Nagtegaal first signaled that both teams would go inside, but after a minute of cooling down, the game continued. After the smoke had cleared, Tijjani Reijnders had a shot opportunity. His bet went over.
Goal Goes continues
Vangelis Pavlidis thought to score the 2-0 a few minutes later. The goal was disallowed for offside. Jesper Karlsson had the same thought as Pavlidis in the seventieth minute, but his goal also fell through. The Swede hit after a misunderstanding in the Cambuur defense, only the VAR saw that he was making hands. Defender Wouter Goes scored a goal, which did not stand. He tapped from close range after a hard shot from Milos Kerkez: 2-0.
Tension back
Goes seemed to bring his team to a safe haven, but nothing could be further from the truth. After a foul by Pantelis Hatzidiakos, Björn Johnsen was allowed to take a penalty kick. The former AZ striker hurt his old team and brought back the tension: 2-1. The circus seemed complete after Remco Balk scored 2-2. This goal was canceled due to Roberts Uldriķis, who was offside in the run-up. Cambuur ended up with ten men after a red card for Mees Hoedemakers.
With the victory, AZ takes over second place from Ajax, which will visit Vitesse tomorrow. That will be the opponent of the Alkmaarders next Friday, who will then have to do without Jordy Clasie. He picked up his fifth yellow card and is suspended.
Setup AZ: Ryan; Sugawara, Goes, Hatzidiakos, Kerkez (M. De Wit/90); Reijnders, Clasie, Mijnans; Odgaard, Pavlidis (Barasi/80), Karlsson (Lahdo/90)