Jordy Clasie gives AZ three hard-fought points in Leeuwarden after a mistake Cambuur keeper | Dutch football

By Nik Kok

It took a blunder by Cambuur keeper João Virgínia to give AZ the victory against Cambuur. The Portuguese keeper (22) with a past at Benfica and Everton let a seeming long shot from Jordy Clasie slip in the ninetieth minute, causing his club to go under. It didn’t seem like that for a long time. Cambuur was able to parry AZ’s attacks relatively easily, even though it played with ten men for more than half an hour after a red card for Jamie Jacobs.

AZ, which had to do without the injured Riechedly Bazoer and Jesper Karlsson, heard in advance that competitor FC Twente dropped the first points of the season against FC Volendam, so a good result against Cambuur can sometimes be important.

On Thursday evening, the Alkmaarders played in Portugal in the preliminary round of the Conference League against Gil Vicente and as fresh as the club played in recent weeks, it didn’t get off the starting blocks in Leeuwarden this time. Although Milos Kerkez was as fierce as ever. Referee Rob Dieperink already received a yellow card after eleven minutes for the diligent back after a fierce tackle.

The first big chance in Leeuwarden came for the home team when captain and striker Roberts Uldrikis headed a corner on the post. A chance for Alex Bangura was prey for AZ keeper Hobie Verhulst moments later.

Henk de Jong’s Cambuur has had a mixed start to the season with a sudden 1-4 victory over Fortuna Sittard as the temporary highlight. In the meantime, the club has mainly been busy keeping the selection together until the close of the transfer market. That seems to work. The most wanted crown jewel Mees Hoedemakers was coveted by FC Utrecht but played along against AZ on Sunday afternoon.

Hoedemakers and his teammates took matters into their own hands before half-time in their own atmospheric stadium. And two necessary substitutions at halftime (Mees de Wit for Milos Kerkez and Jens Odgaard for Vangelis Pavlidis) initially did not turn the tide for AZ. Dangerous play out like Manchester United against Brentford and PSV against Rangers (with Manchester United and PSV it did not go well) went just barely well when Sam Beukema saved his team on the line.

At Cambuur, Jamie Jacobs, former youth player of AZ, was sent off a little later after a VAR intervention that showed that his tackle on substitute Odgaard was much too hard. With this, Jacobs duped his team at a crucial moment in the match, although Cambuur refused to settle down with the fanatical audience against the only Dutch club that plays in the group stage of the Conference League. Twelve minutes, the biggest summer acquisition Sylvester van der Water was also allowed to make his first playing minutes of the season.

Van der Water saw AZ substitute Mayckel Lahdo hit the bar six minutes before the end, the only moment when AZ really came close to the opening goal. Until that ninetieth minute and Jordy Clasie still gave his team the victory. ,,I think we got off to a good start, but after about 25 minutes we got a lot of pressure on it. Hence the compliments to Cambuur. Fortunately, we still win in the end, but we do it very late,” said match winner Clasie. “These are points that can be very important for us. The feeling in the team is good and we keep it that way. It’s always nice that you still take the three points despite a mediocre game.”

AZ will play the next game next Thursday. Then the make-up game against NEC is on the program.

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