Due to a goal just before half-time, AZ lost the friendly match against Olympiakos Piraeus. A good header from Pape Abou Cissé turned out to be sufficient for the victory: 1-0.
Without the injured Yukinari Sugawara and Jesper Karlsson started AZ’s friendly match against Olympiakos. The Greeks seemed to get the first chance of the match, but it was nipped in the bud by Pantelis Hatzidiakos. A pinprick from Giorgos Masouras was easily caught by goalie Hobie Verhulst, who played the entire match. On the stroke of half-time, the home team took the lead via Pape Abou Cissé. The defender headed in from a corner and outwitted Verhulst: 1-0.
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The level did not improve in the second half, partly due to the many changes on the field. Philip Zinckernagel was able to hit the Alkmaarders’ sixteen, but his effort went wide. It took until the 79th minute before AZ got a significant chance. Sam Beukema blasted the ball hard from a distance and his shot went just wide. In stoppage time, Verhulst kept his team going with a great save. The Alkmaarders came out dangerous in the counterattack. Jens Odgaard, Jelle Duin and Mees de Wit all failed to score in the same attack. As a result, the exhibition game ended 1-0.
The next exhibition game is July 16 against KVC Westerlo.
AZ setup: concealed; Witry (De Jong/86), Hatzidiakos (Dekker/86), Beukema, Kerkez (M. De Wit/61); Reijnders (Schouten/86), D. De Wit (Van Brederode/75), Midtsjø (Koopmeiners/61); Evjen (Odgaard/61), Pavlidis (Duin/75), Lahdo (Barasi/75).