Easy home wins for PSV and Ajax

November 23, 2009

Both PSV Eindhoven and Ajax cruised to easy home victories on Sunday, beating Heracles and Heerenveen respectively.

PSV needed a win to restore the original two-point gap with leaders Twente, and opened the scoring through Ibrahim Afellay in the 45th minute. At this point. Heracles were already a man down as Martin Pieckenhagen was sent off in the 28th minute.

Balazs Dzsudszsak made it 2-0 five minutes after half time, Ole Toivonen added a third in minute 62 and the fourth and final goal came from Jagos Vukovic with a few minutes to go.

Demy de Zeeuw helped Ajax to an early and comfortable lead over SC Heerenven with goals in the 7th and 24th minutes, for Marko Pantelic to score the home side’s third in minute 28.

Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez made it 4-0 from the spot in the 35th minute. Four minutes later, Goran Popov pulled one back for the visitors but Ismail Aissati reacted by almost immediately hitting the target for 5-1.

No more goals were scored in the second half.

Jonathan Roorda

Tags: Ajax, few minutes, five minutes, four minutes, gap, heerenven, Heracles, home victories, ibrahim afellay, ismail aissati, luis suarez, pantelic, point gap, popov, psv eindhoven, roorda, target, twente, vukovic

SC Heerenveen win Dutch Cup

May 18, 2009

SC Heerenveen have won the Dutch Cup for the first time in history. In a penalty shoot-out, the Frisians were more precise than opponents FC Twente.

The final, played at Rotterdam’s De Kuip stadium, offered an entertaining clash between two sides that had nothing to lose. Heerenveen were slightly better in the first half and scored the opener through Goran Popov in the 26th minute.

But Twente gained strength in the second half and equalised through Eljero Elia nine minutes after the break. The Enschede outfit had several other big chances and even hit the woodwork on three occasions.

Former Feyenoord and Auxerre striker Bonaventure Kalou put Heerenveen back ahead in extra time (111th minute) but Youssouf Hersi forced a penalty shootout with a 117th-minute equaliser, 2-2.

From the spot, Heerenveen were the better side and went on to win the trophy for the first time ever.

Heerenveen also featured in the 1993 and 1997 finals, but lost those to Ajax and Roda JC respectively.

Written: Jonathan Roorda