There was not quite such a merry Christmas for ten of the teams in the Eredivisie as the KNVB (The Dutch Football Association) decided it was too dangerous for the teams and their fans to travel due to the heavy snow falls that have beset North West Europe recently. This was on the Sunday and five games were therefore postponed.
'De Koel' - the rather basic home of VVV Venlo
The earlier games went ahead despite the meterological circumstances and gave Feyenoord the chance to grab three points which they did at home against Willem II from Tilburg thanks to an early goal from Sekou Cissé. This 1-0 win brings them within one point of third placed Ajax.
AZ Alkmaar meanwhile managed to get back to business as usual with a 3-0 hammering of ADO The Hague, so new job-share manager Advocaat (he’s also the Belgian national manager) has got his first win under his belt.
Heracles Almelo went up to the dizzying heights of fifth place with a 1-0 home victory over mid-table VVV Venlo. Manager Verbeek must have been delighted with this tenth win of the season, gained under tricky playing conditions on a snow-covered artificial field. But no matter, Everton (a Brazilian player)’s goal sealed the three points early in the second half.
So the achievement of the weekend surely goes to rock-bottom RKC Waalwijk, who, despite their lowly status and financial mire, defeated Sparta Rotterdam 4-1. This amazing feat was already in the can by half time with the home team 3-0 up thanks to a brace from Boerrigter.
All the other games are being rearranged, no word yet on when they will be played.
Standings
Not too much change obviously, with only four games, but Feyenoord moved up to fourth place and are now within ten points of leaders Twente. Second and third placed PSV and Ajax did not play. Heracles, as mentioned above, are enjoying life in fifth place and AZ moved up to within two points of sixth place Utrecht. In the basement RKC are now only one point off second bottom NEC and just two behind ADO whom they beat. Willem II remain on the same amount of points (14) as NEC.
Next games: It is now time for the Dutch ‘winterstop’, meaning there will be no more scheduled matches till 22 January 2010 when Twente travel to Groningen, PSV face NEC, Ajax play AZ at the ArenA, Feyenoord travel to VVV, Heracles host Vitesse, Utrecht go to Roda, RKC receive NAC, Sparta host ADO and Willem II travel north to Heereveen.
Merry Christmas and a happy new year till then!
Tags: Eredivisie, football
