The remainder of AZ’s match against NEC lasted exactly five minutes and six seconds. That was the playing time that remained after NEC striker Bas Dost collapsed on the field to everyone’s shock on October 29 due to an inflamed heart muscle. There was no change in the 1-2 score tonight during this quickie.
NEC obviously lacked Dost, who is doing well under the circumstances, but has not played football since. Lasse Schöne was also absent. The Dane was ill. All spectators who were there on that Sunday evening were also able to go to the stadium tonight. Of those 19,500 spectators, only a few hundred showed up. Among them were 237 NEC supporters in the away section who had to travel about three hours from Nijmegen to Alkmaar.
Text continues below the video from October 29th
Both coaches did not want to say anything in advance about their tactics for this ultra-short football game. AZ coach Jansen was officially no longer allowed to make changes, because he had already brought in five players. Because Riechedly Bazoer and Denso Kasius could not play tonight due to injuries, Jansen was allowed to bring in Tiago Dantas and Mexx Meerdink ‘on medical grounds’.
Naturally, AZ tried to attack fully from the start in order to force the 2-2. Odgaard was close to an equalizer with a header, while Meerdink shot the ball over from a corner. NEC therefore remained afloat.
AZ remains in third place in the Premier League and will play at home again on Saturday evening. Almere City FC is then the opponent. NEC climbs from sixteenth to twelfth place in the rankings.
AZ setup: Ryan; Sugawara (Kasius/73/Meerdink), Bazoer/Dantas, Penetra (Martins Indi/46), Möller-Wolfe; Clasie, De Wit, Mijnans (Goudmijn/46); Lahado (Odgaard/73), Pavlidis and Van Brederode (Van Bommel/46)