The dessert in the form of the play-offs has yet to come, but the last regular round in the Kitchen Champion Division is scheduled for Friday.
The results of the Limburg clubs Roda JC, MVV and VVV-Venlo in their last competition match will keep few out of their sleep, you might say. However, there are still some burning questions to be answered. Ten, to be precise:
1. Who will be Roda JC’s play-off opponent?
Roda JC is the only Limburg KKD team that will compete for promotion in the play-offs. Excelsior or ADO Den Haag will be the opponent in the first round. In 21 of the 27 possible scenarios, Jurgen Streppel’s team encounters Excelsior. And if Roda himself beats Telstar, it also has a chance to play first away and then at home, something that is usually seen as an advantage. If Roda survives the first round, the number sixteen of the Eredivisie awaits in the second round.
2. Does the tourist office settle in the left row?
VVV will miss those play-offs, which will be a disappointment for the supporters of the relegated from Venlo. A place in the right-hand row of the KKD is then completely ugly, but Jos Luhukay and his troops can still prevent that. VVV is now number eleven with 45 points, two more than Jong PSV but one less than number ten FC Den Bosch. In order to pass the residents of Bosschen, that team will have to forfeit points at the bottom of Helmond Sport and VVV itself has to beat Jong FC Utrecht. More on that in a moment.
3. The Cool’s Maldini one more time?
Niels Fleuren comes from a period when things looked a bit more sporty for VVV. However, the years are beginning to count for the left back, who was once renamed the Maldini van de Koel. With 490 duels and exactly one goal on the counter, the career of the current TOP Oss player could just come to an end on Friday, who we risk losing to the offices of his current employer. Or will the 35-year-old Fleuren still stick to it for another year? In any case, let’s hope that, unlike 9 of the previous 10 matches, he gets playing time on Friday night.
4. Renew with Verberne?
Friday evening opponent of Fleuren en Oss is… MVV Maastricht. The Star Bearers were the subject of what is affectionately referred to as a bridging year. The Klaas Wels derby in the Osse Kuipje is the final piece of that year, in which MVV said goodbye to Wels and then put his assistant Maurice Verberne in front of the group. Under the leadership of Verberne, a cautious upward trend seems to have started and the Brabanter also obtained his trainer’s diploma in the meantime. But can he stay on as head coach after this season? A good performance in Oss would help.
5. Does Romain Matthys defend his perfect penalty percentage?
For a good result, the cooperation of MVV keeper Romain Matthys is required. The goalie is perhaps the revelation of this season and will also be under the bar at MVV next season. A remarkable statistic: he has not conceded a single goal from a penalty kick. Twice Matthys was on the line to parry a penalty and twice the keeper was the winner. Matthys will be only too happy to take that wonderful percentage of one hundred percent into the summer break.
6. Are the card kings still trumped?
Usually you send a card from your holiday address, but with a number of KKD players it is possible that they travel to their holiday address with a card in their pocket. Take VVV captain Brian Koglin, who has already received 9 yellow cards this season and is therefore joint leader in the KKD. And anyone who makes a card ranking in which a red card yields five points will designate MVV defender Matteo Waem (6 times yellow, 1 time red) as the league leader. The usually reliable defender is also the only KKD player to score two own goals…
7. Dylan Vente in Roda’s record books?
Dylan Vente finds himself in a completely different list, namely the list of the most scoring Roda strikers in one season. The attacker has already blown the net 22 times and could attack the club’s all-time record. Sanharib Malki once scored 25 – at Eredivisie level – in one year, one more than Mario Engels (24 in the KKD) and John Eriksen (23 in the Eredivisie). He needs a hat-trick in the home game against Telstar to equal Malki. And Vente has already managed to score a hat-trick twice this season, so who knows, the striker might write club history on Friday.
Also read: Video: Dylan Vente feels at home at Roda JC
8. Will VVV still take a point against a U23 team?
The record books also threaten VVV. Whether in the history of professional football a club has ever managed to lose eight times in one season against a promise team, is not known to this editor. But at least it hasn’t happened to VVV yet. The desolate list of bad luck against the Young teams this season: 0-1 and 0-2 against Young AZ, 1-2 and 1-4 against Young PSV, 1-3 and 1-6 against Young Ajax and 1-2 against Young Utrecht, which is also the opponent on Friday. Perhaps VVV can appeal to Utrecht mercenaries Nick Venema and Rayan el Azrak to hurt their patrons on the one hand, and to help VVV get rid of that deplorable series on the other.
9. Does the MVV defense prevent a negative lead?
Defeats usually start with goals against, MVV can talk about that this season. Both in terms of defeats and in terms of goals, the people from Maastricht are number nineteen in the KKD and the last thing the red and whites want is to take over the red lantern in those categories. Only FC Dordrecht (76) conceded more goals than MVV (75), while Helmond Sport (23 losses) is the only team that more often left the field with zero points than MVV (22 times). So it’s a matter for the Maastricht defense to keep its ranks closed against Oss!
10. Will Roda extend the undefeated home run from 11 to 12?
And if Roda JC does the same, it will extend her impressive unbeaten run in the Parkstad Limburg Stadium. The Koempels have not lost any of their last eleven games in Kerkrade; seven times they won, four times the yellow-blacks drew. It is the longest series since the 1995/1996 season, when Roda finished fourth in the Eredivisie. Many Roda supporters may not remember the last loss on their own field: more than six months ago, on October 23, 2021 against FC Emmen (1-2). It would be surprising if the number penultimate Telstar puts an end to that strong Roda series on Friday.
Live
The Roda JC – Telstar, Jong FC Utrecht – VVV-Venlo and TOP Oss – MVV Maastricht matches will all start on Friday at 20:00. All those duels can then be followed live via L1 Radio.