ADO Den Haag and De Graafschap start 2024 with a spectacle, KKD leader Willem II wins big | Dutch football

ADO Den Haag and De Graafschap started 2024 as numbers three and four in the KKD, but are second and sixth after Friday evening’s spectacle. It shows how small the differences at the top still are, although leader Willem II maintains an advantage over the pursuers after another convincing victory.

De Graafschap took a 0-2 lead after 27 minutes, but ADO fought back well in the second half with three goals within 22 minutes. Halfway through the second half, striker Henk Veerman made it 3-2, but four minutes later Mimoun Mahi scored again for the 3-3 on behalf of the Superboeren from Doetinchem. Mahi scored on the instructions of Ralf Seuntjens, who had only entered the lines two minutes earlier. Supported by the enthusiastic supporters, ADO then fought to a 5-3 victory thanks to goals from Joel Ideho and Daryl van Mieghem.

The new goalkeeper was at ADO Nick Marsman (33) still on the couch while there with Alex Schalk (31) a new striker is also on his way to Darije Kalezic’s team. The Bosnian coach confirmed this to ESPN before the match. Schalk is transfer-free after his departure from Urawa Red Diamonds, for which he scored at the Club World Cup at the end of December. ADO may also try to bring back experienced defender Vito Wormgoor (35) and midfielder Jens Toornstra (34) this month, but Kalezic did not want to say too much about that.

Willem II has also had an excellent start to the new year. The leader of the Kitchen Champion Division won 0-5 at TOP Oss. The team of Belgian coach Peter Maes now has 48 points from 21 matches. That is eight points more than ADO Den Haag and nine more than number three Roda JC, which did not play against FC Eindhoven due to a frozen field in Kerkrade.

Thanks to goals from Ringo Meerveld (’14) and Matthias Verreth (’43), the visitors were already 0-2 ahead at halftime in Oss. In the second half, Willem II achieved a 0-5 victory thanks to Meerveld again and two goals from super sub Jeremy Bokila. The 35-year-old Congolese scored his first goals as a starter this season, after scoring his first eight goals as a substitute for the Tilburg team.

SC Cambuur recorded a big victory (5-2) in Leeuwarden over MVV Maastricht, which had clearly not yet digested the 330 kilometer bus journey well in the opening phase of the match. Within five minutes, Latvian striker Roberts Uldrikis had already scored twice, after which Romain Matthys made it 3-0 with an own goal after eleven minutes. Remarkably, that also turned out to be the halftime score, but four more goals were scored in the second half. After Fedde de Jong and Michael Breij had scored for Cambuur, Dailon Livramento returned the favor with two goals on behalf of MVV: 5-2.

FC Dordrecht also continues to perform exceptionally well. The team of trainers Michele Santoni and Pascal Bosschaart won on the Krommedijk with 2-0 from Helmond Sport and is now fourth. Shiloh ‘t Zand opened the score in the fourth minute, after which Austrian striker René Kriwak made it 2-0 in the 57th minute.