After Mexx Meerdink had shot in the decisive penalty, everyone in the sold-out stadium of AZ was on the benches. The players jumped into each other’s arms. “Oh how nice it is to be an AZ member”, it blared through the speakers. The joy after reaching the semi-finals in the Conference League was perhaps even greater because the fans had to wait so long against Anderlecht on Thursday evening.
The party started early. In the third minute, the home club received a penalty after a foul on Milos Kerkez. Vangelis Pavlidis hit. On his way to the center spot, he once again whipped up all corners of the stadium. Less than ten minutes later, the 2-0 defeat from the first leg was already eliminated. A through ball from Tijjani Reijnders was placed wide by Jens Odgaard, who was just not offside. Again Pavlidis was able to push the ball into the empty goal.
It was exactly the scenario AZ had in mind. Early goals and then on and on, but after the 2-0 it stopped. Despite a large number of chances, given away by the shooting defense of Anderlecht, the diptych remained in balance.
AZ then took the penalty kicks flawlessly, while Anderlecht missed twice. Captain Jan Vertonghen and Killian Sardella saw their bets turned by AZ goalkeeper Mathew Ryan.
Trainer Pascal Jansen had missed “a bit of hunger for the goal” in the match in Belgium, he said in the run-up to the match on the AZ club channel. “We have to make sure things flare up on the field and [het stadion] will stand behind us”, Jansen also said.
In the second half, doubts increased in the stands. What if?
There was no lack of either of them at the beginning of the match. But in the second half, when the spring sun had set, doubts seemed to set in in the stands. What if Anderlecht still make the 2-1 from a sparse breakout? Because AZ’s chances just didn’t want to go in.
In the end it turned out well, because AZ remained mentally strong and had no doubts in the penalty shootout.
Nice European campaign
The semi-final spot follows a great European campaign, in which AZ eliminated the Italian Lazio in the previous round. The performance also gives the season of the Alkmaarders shine. In the Eredivisie, AZ was still in the top places until a few weeks ago, but after two defeats and a draw in three games, the head of the competition was lost.
The season seems to end dramatically for Anderlecht. The fallen top club is already going through a very difficult season in the Belgian league, in which it is in tenth place and lost 5-2 against leader KRC Genk last weekend. With that classification, the team of captain Jan Vertonghen is not only in danger of missing out on qualification for the championship group, but also next to the play-offs to grab European football.
AZ, on the other hand, lives up to its name as a challenger to the traditional top-3. Only last year it was Feyenoord that reached the final of the Conference League – the third European club tournament – and celebrated that as a great success.
With the transfers of Jens Odgaard (more than four million euros, in the summer) and Djordje Mihailovic (six million euros, in the winter), among others, AZ invested a lot of money this season to bring the selection up to level and to get closer to the top. crawl. In addition, there was the good development of the youth academy, with which AZ has been working hard for some time. This season, attacker Myron van Brederode, among others, made his breakthrough. He replaced the injured Jesper Karlsson against Anderlecht in the starting line-up.
In turn, Van Brederode was replaced by Mexx Meerdink in extra time. He is actually still a youth player. His normal team, the under-18s, will play the semi-finals of the prestigious Youth League against Sporting Portugal on Friday. There was a plane waiting to fly him there after the game, if it was all feasible. Because first Meerdink was allowed to party in Alkmaar. He shot the winning penalty kick hard.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 21, 2023.