Conference League, West Ham beats Az Alkmaar, goal by Fornals

Forty-seven years after the last time, West Ham will play in the final of a European cup. David Moyes’ team wins 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar and snatches a ticket for the big match scheduled for Wednesday 7 June in Prague. After the 2-1 in London, conquered in a comeback thanks to goals from Benrahma and Antonio, the Hammers play the perfect game in Holland: concentrated and compact for 90′, they keep a clean sheet and score in full stoppage time, with the new Fornals making the English fans explode with joy.

NO SURPRISE

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The two coaches rely on the same formations as in the first leg: the only change is in AZ, which lines up Kerkez on the left in place of De Wit. Moyes focuses on the usual top players. Areola between the posts, Kehrer, Zouma, Aguerd and Cresswell in defense, the Rice-Soucek duo in the middle. In the frontline, Bowen, Paquetà and Bernahma support Michail Antonio, who has become indispensable following the injury to Scamacca (season over). The first half was balanced: the Dutch wingers created difficulties for the Hammers, who however remained compact and only conceded one shot. West Ham, on the other hand, works well on counterattacks. To the imagination of Bowen and Benrahma is added the quality of the former AC Milan player Paquetà, who in the 25th minute hits the outside post with a play from him: control over the trocar, swerving left-footed and shooting around the far post. Nothing to do, the score is 0-0 at half-time.

THE RECOVERY

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Upon returning from the changing rooms, AZ pushes on the accelerator. Kerkez and Reijnders put in a couple of interesting balls, but Pavlidis no longer seems like the goal machine that knocked out Lazio and Anderlecht. West Ham was woken up by Captain Rice, who frightened the Dutch with a shot from distance. In the last half hour, however, the ball of the game passes definitively to the feet of AZ, who are in a hurry to verticalize to try and score at least one goal. In the end, the English win with experience: they put the game to sleep as soon as they have the opportunity and try to surprise with the restarts of the newly entered Fornals and Ings. The recipe is a winner, because in the 94th minute Fornals strikes on the counterattack. The match ends a minute later, Rice and his teammates can celebrate. Last year’s dreams of international triumph vanished following their elimination in the semi-finals of the Europa League against eventual champions Eintracht. The redemption can now come in the final in Prague. And to think that, in the Premier League, the Hammers are not yet arithmetically safe: two days from the end of the championship, they are six points clear of eighteenth place…