A gala performance against Dundee United has ensured that AZ still made it to the play-offs of the Conference League. Against the Scots who were still 1-0 too strong in the first leg, they won no less than 7-0 tonight. In Alkmaar, Tijjani Reijnders and Vangelis Pavlidis were mainly on target. The main tournament of the Conference League must now be reached against the Portuguese Gil Vicente.
Twenty whirling minutes before half-time finally brought AZ the turnaround that wiped out the 1-0 defeat against Dundee United in the blink of an eye. Two goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Tijjani Reijnders brought the Scottish visitors to their knees, after which the score quickly rose further
Visitors who had not traveled to Alkmaar with little self-confidence after that first match. And with them the more than a thousand rowdy Scottish fans who created a rare great atmosphere in the AZ stadium. They had marched from the city center to the stadium in their orange shirts and flags before the game and were assigned an extra space inside to encourage their team that managed to win so surprisingly last week. Then AZ did not give in in a game in which the team could hardly create anything. You will fall short against zealous Scots who seemed to be playing the game of their lives.
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Before the match, coach Pascal Jansen and his players promised to get better, but AZ now also needed time to get into a dangerous position for Dundee United goalkeeper Mark Birighitti.
But then striker Vangelis Pavlidis and especially Tijjani Reijnders stood up. The midfielder who was still in the interest of FC Twente this summer but was absolutely not allowed to leave AZ, is never in the base in Alkmaar for a long time, although he is seen within the club as the successor of Fredrik Midtsjø who left for Galatasaray. Reijnders first set up the attack that resulted in Pavlidis’ opening goal. Reijnders himself was good for the second goal via a shot from a distance.
With that, the resistance of the now suddenly shockingly weak Dundee United seemed definitively broken, after which AZ could easily reach no less than 5-0 before the break. When it was also 6-0 by Dani de Wit 52 seconds after the break, many Scottish supporters thought it was enough and left the stadium to loud applause to continue enjoying themselves in the city center of Alkmaar.
Just today summer acquisition Riechedly Bazoer was part of the match selection for the first time. The former international has been brought in for a place in midfield and that would be at the expense of Reijnders, but after tonight it is suddenly a question of whether Bazoer, who still made his debut, will just play in the AZ team.
The game shown by AZ promises something for the rest of the season, where the club had started a bit cautiously with a defeat in Scotland and a fairly business-like victory over Go Ahead Eagles.
AZ also had to do without star player Jesper Karlsson in the fifth game of the season, while acquisitions by Jens Odgaard and Zinho Vanheusden are still missing. The intended right back Yukinari Sugawara did return to the selection, but the AZ that we will see this season is still surrounded by some question marks
Thursday evening’s generous say will in any case give the team confidence for the approaching play-off match against the Portuguese Gil Vicente, which must determine whether the club will make it to a group stage of a European tournament again and will be played next week. In that regard, the papers are favorable. Almost without exception, the club manages to struggle through European qualifying rounds and the main tournament is once again close.
“People paid money to come here and watch it, and that’s how it ends,” Dundee United captain Ryan Edwards stammered after the match. BBC. “It’s humiliating. We have to accept it, it is what it is.”
“It’s a tough night,” United coach Jack Ross said. “Last week we rightly received a lot of compliments and now we deserve the criticism we get. We conceded six goals in 26 minutes. It doesn’t matter. “Who plays against, that’s not good. It was a painful, painful evening for us. The players need to feel this, I feel this. This is not a night to make excuses, this is a night for realism.”
Trainer Pascal Jansen enjoyed an “unparalleled” AZ. That’s what he said at RTL7. “The boys have impressively lived up to expectations.”
What was so good? “Multiple things,” said the coach. ,,The control we had throughout the game, that we were always dominant. Everything we did was of a decent standard. I enjoyed a lot of beautiful things.”
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