Gets his first Eerste Divisie start for NAC Breda. He was only coming off the bench in league matches up until now. So at least for now, that makes two US U-23 center backs starting in the Netherlands. Iedereen op een rijtje: de selecties van beide clubs. #NACpraat #telNAC pic.twitter.com/EKL2ukDoVI— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) October 14, 2016
Update on his parents bar.. gacm32, my guess is your sig put this over the top. http://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/05/conor-oneills-reopening/
Got his second league start and went the full match in a 3-1 win over Fortuna Sittard. NAC are 2nd place among non-Jong teams (Jong teams are not eligible for promotion), so they are very much in contention for Eredivisie promotion. Voor de volledigheid: alle namen op een rijtje. #NACpraat #NACfor pic.twitter.com/uzx0btSORR— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) October 21, 2016
Shane O'neill starting again for NAC Breda in Holland's second tier #USMNT https://t.co/YiwCke3rA0— Leon (@usmntsoccerguy) October 28, 2016
O'Neill went the full match. NAC won in a thriller over FC Oss, 4-3, scoring the go-ahead goal with a minute to go in stoppage time. With MVV Maastricht's loss, NAC is now first place among non-Jong teams. That's O'Neill (#29) on the right celebrating the win: #NACpraat #ossNAC. pic.twitter.com/JZzHppv2QL— gvgeene 💛🖤 (@gvgeene) October 28, 2016
Is it playoffs with Eredivisie teams for all promotion spots at the end of the season? Does non-Jong champion get to skip the playoff? they have playoffs, right?
The non-Jong champion gets to skip the playoff and is automatically promoted, taking the spot of the last-place Eredivisie team which is automatically relegated. Then the next eight non-Jong Eerste Divisie teams play in a promotion/relegation playoff with the third-worst and second-worst Eredivisie teams, meaning ten teams for two Eredivisie spots. In a given year, up to three teams could be promoted to the Eredivisie if the non-Jong champion + two more Eerste Divisie teams get promoted, or as few as one if those two Eredivisie teams are able to cling to their spots and only the non-Jong champion is promoted.
It's pretty good that Shane is a starter on one of the top teams in the Eerste Divisie, one that historically belongs in the Eredivisie. Not very easy for a center-back, especially a younger one, to get a starting job abroad. He's apparently on a year-long loan from Apollon Limassol in Cyprus, but no doubt he should try to sign permanently with NAC Breda if he helps them to promotion.
No, during the competition teams play for a period title (8 matches iirc) and the champion of a period gets a place in the play off round. So 4 places are for those winners. It gives a team the chance to redeam themselves by winning the last Period title, after for instance succking major league in the first 24 matches. It also gives the possibility of an impossible situation. If a team, for whatever reason, sucked so much it lands on the last spot and relegates to the 2d division, but manages to win the 4th period title and win the promotion battle...what is going to happen then?
Thanks for the clarification. I looked a bit deeper into the promotion/relegation playoff and indeed, that's pretty fascinating that there are four Eerste Divisie clubs which qualify via period title which are 8 matches each, along with the next-best Eerste Divisie clubs which didn't win a period title, and of course the 16th- and 17th-placed Eredivisie clubs. The more you know! Yeah, I don't know how they would handle that situation. Highly improbable that a team that sucked that much would end up winning the last period title, but it is theoretically possible.
Exactly. Think just about this situation. For the last period title the first 4 places are occupied by the champion and the 3 clubs already in possession of a period title. Add to that the sucking club has the easiest string of matches, while the other (better) clubs had to face the toughest opponents (for instance the champion and the teams fighting for the last P.T., thus cannibalizing each other of the coveted points. Still hard, but suddenly not so impossible anymore. Just end up 5th in the 4th PT and your in. Still have to win one of the two the play off promotion places, but you never know how far your luck goes. In the Netherlands we have a saying that the devil shits on one heap. So when you're lucky all of a sudden, you cannot rule out it keeps shitting on your heap
Starts again: Voor de volledigheid: alle namen op een rijtje. #NACpraat #jajNAC pic.twitter.com/9zBZk6OtHT— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) November 4, 2016
Went the full match as NAC fell to Jong Ajax 2-1. The NAC Twitter feed mentioned him multiple times as defending very well.
Starts today: Dit zijn de mannen die het namens NAC moeten doen vanavond! Hup NAC! #NACpraat #NACvvv pic.twitter.com/10Xpl74PkZ— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) November 18, 2016
The cracker match between VVV-Venlo and NAC Breda in front of almost 17000 spectators brought a lot of suspense and excitement, but no goals.
Starts: De selecties van beide clubs deze avond. #NACpraat #camNAC pic.twitter.com/FhJ0JBlPvc— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) November 25, 2016
Starts: Dit zijn de mannen die het vanavond namens NAC moeten doen tegen @HelmondSport! #NACpraat #NAChel pic.twitter.com/IS60t6mPjH— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) November 28, 2016
Starts: De mannen die het vanavond namens NAC moeten doen tegen Almere City! #NACpraat #NACalm pic.twitter.com/8EQUmbeYiY— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) December 2, 2016
Starts: Dit zijn de mannen die het vanavond namens NAC moeten doen in Eindhoven! #NACpraat #einNAC pic.twitter.com/JSUzgvAiII— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) December 9, 2016
Starts: Deze mannen moeten het vanavond gaan doen namens NAC! #NACpraat #NACemm pic.twitter.com/F2O6WqmPgf— NAC Breda 💛🖤 (@NACnl) December 16, 2016
How has been doing? Have any teams been impressed with him and maybe open bring him out of the 3rd division.
His rating by the leading soccer magazine Voetbal International has been rather consistantly 6-6.5 out of 10 max.
Nope, they play on mondays too, like the first NAC match after the winterbreak: 16 januari 2017 20:00 Jong FC Utrecht vs NAC Breda