AZ Alkmaar: The cheese wheels are rolling

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Sweet memories:

See the docu:
https://www.az.nl/jeugdopleiding/youth-league

 

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Very young Kees Smit takes the leading role against Fenerbahçe and gives AZ its first win since the end of September
Europa League
After six defeats in the last all comeptitions seven games, the battered AZ has finally been able to win again. The victory was immediately one of great value. The very young AZ won 3-1 against the cunning Fenerbahçe. Especially the 2-1 by eighteen-year-old Kees Smit stuck.
With the youngest starting eleven of the entire Europa League season, AZ tried to overwhelm the experienced powerhouses of the Fenerbahçe of coach José Mourinho. The difference in age was immense, the difference in strength in any case minimal. And the youngest of them all, Kees Smit (18), provided the highlight of the evening with the beautiful 2-1. It remained exciting until the end in a wonderful duel that went up and down and in which Fenerbahçe striker Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, a goalkeeper who has only just finished his teens, stopped a penalty kick by Youssef En-Nesyri. With the 3-1 by Denso Kasius, AZ was victorious.
AZ's starting team was 22 years and 296 days old, compared to 29 years and 281 of Fenerbahçe's eleven. With the two mature strikers Edin Dzeko of 38 and Dusan Tadic of 35 leading the way. AZ had two European debutants with Jayden Addai and Dave Kwakman. Substitute Ro-Zangelo Daal also made his very first minutes in the first team in the second half.

Hats off for the kids!!

 

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AZU19 does not play in the group phase in the Domestic Champions Path, but knockout phases. The Alkmaar team won in the previous round over two duels easily against Strømsgodset IF and now have to deal with United's talents to reach the knockout phase, in which the 22 best teams from the group stage of the Youth League also end up. On Tuesday evening, AZ took the first step towards the next round. After an own goal by defender Jeremiah Esajas, midfielder Yoël van den Ban scored the equalizer just before halftime. Halfway through the second half, forward Kasper Boogaard turned the game around with a shot from distance, so that AZ defended a 2-1 lead at Old Trafford on December 10

 

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Obviously not an easy opponent for AZ

 

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It is the match of the year for AZ's supporters. At home against neighboring Ajax. Last season, the Alkmaar club won 2-0, this football year the Amsterdam team has recovered considerably. Still, AZ coach Maarten Martens sees plenty of opportunities. "We want to get a result, and everyone is ready for that."
Peace has returned to Alkmaar. After a dramatic series with six league games without a win, AZ picked itself up again in recent weeks. "Of course that's nice," says Maarten Martens. Nevertheless, the Belgian coach wants to look ahead again. "The match at home against Ajax also brings something with it".

Sadiq
Against the Amsterdam team, Martens has an almost fit selection at his disposal. Only striker Ibrahim Sadiq is still injured and goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro will not start yet. That means that Jeroen Zoet will be the goalkeeper against Ajax.
That is a big difference from a while ago when there were many absentees. Looking at Ajax, coach Francesco Farioli uses a system where he gives many players a rest every week and thus spares them. Martens: "The many matches certainly affect the physical condition of the players, but you have to be prepared for that. And due to the necessary injuries, we also had to rotate. As a result, other players get a chance, such as Kees Smit for example."

Smit
This 18-year-old Smit is the most talked about player in Alkmaar lately. Largely because of his unique football qualities, but also because the talent from Heiloo overslept once and picked up a red card. "It has been turbulent weeks for him and I talk to him about that."

 

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Small win dominant AZ over Ajax
AZ has won 2-1 against a toothless Ajax in Alkmaar. The Amsterdam team only bit ofkept f in the final minutes. For a long time, caution prevailed on both sides. Only after half an hour could the first chance be recorded: Parrott set the ball up for Van Bommel, who hit the post. After good preparatory work van Koopmeiners also had Poku the 1-0 on his boot, but Pasveer saved skilfully. After the break, a shot by Van Bommel landed on the post. And after the because of hands disallowed goal by Weghorst, Pasveer kept Poku from scoring again. On Parrott's shot and Lahdo's header no chance for Pasveer to make a save. Ten minutes before time, Godts did something back.

 

Ajax falls into Martens' trap: 'We knew we could kill them'

AZ coach Maarten Martens saw that the plan he had worked out beforehand worked out well against Ajax (2-1). The Belgian only thought that his team could have played it out even better.
AZ regularly pinned Ajax in its own half, so coach Francesco Farioli's team hardly had time to build up.
'We focused on putting pressure on and put a lot of energy into it. We wanted to provoke them to play short and then be on top of it. We paid a lot of attention to that. We knew that we could kill them in the final phase', Martens analyzed Sunday afternoon after the 2-1 victory.
It took a while for AZ to make the difference through Troy Parrott and Mayckel Lahdo. Martens felt that his team was sometimes too cautious in the first half after a ball conquest. 'We should have looked for Poku and Van Bommel more often, then we played the ball back again. In the second half, it worked.' After Mika Godts' 2-1, it was tense for a while, but AZ pulled the victory over the line.
'We won and rightly so.'
That AZ had to go into reverse in the final phase, Martens thought was only normal.
'We gave almost nothing away, but you can't take away all the danger.'
Ajax thought they would equalize earlier in the second half through Wout Weghorst.
Martens was surprised that the Ajax striker did not receive a second yellow card for a 'deliberate handball.
' He thought that Brian Brobbey's goal was disallowed. 'That was a foul on Goes.'

Van Bommel & Parrott
Martens didn't want to dwell on it for too long. What matters is that AZ has found the connection again.
'If you look at the table, it's nice that we take three points and can look up again,' said the AZ coach, who was happy with the play of Ruben van Bommel, who hit the post twice.
'We know that he can score a goal out of nothing. You saw that too.' He was also pleased with Troy Parrott's goal. 'A real striker's goal.'
Parrott started last week on the bench against Heracles Almelo. Martens gave the Irishman a rest and was happy with his reaction.
'He shows that he is eager. If you are not in it once, you have to show a reaction. He does that well.'
Parrott himself was happy that he scored again against Ajax.
'This was a very important match for us, it feels good to win. I came to AZ to score in these kinds of matches, so this is very nice.'

 

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Peer Koopmeiners, good for two assists, had also been motivated by the words from Amsterdam. "We have seen the interviews that the tank was empty. We also play a double program and have shown how fit we are. We went into battle for 95 minutes."

 

Increasingly, the members of the AZ team that won the UEFA Youth League in 2023 are allowed to show their skills in the Alkmaar first team. Among them Mexx Meerdink (21), at the time the goalgetter of the most successful Dutch youth team ever. "Of course we are impatient."

 

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AZ youth back on track in Youth League, Under 19 eliminates Manchester United
What PSV and Feyenoord failed to do in the Youth League, AZ Under 19 did on Tuesday evening: advance to the next round. The Alkmaar team held up well at Manchester United (0-0) and that was enough after an earlier home win against the English superpower (2-1).
AZ, who won the Youth League last year, qualified for the next round together with nine other teams via an alternative route, the so-called 'Domestic Champions Path'. Those teams join the best 22 teams from the group stage.

 

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Bulgarian media praise AZ despite draw: 'A lecture on how to play modern football'
The Bulgarian media are impressed by AZ's performance. Although Maarten Martens' formation shortchanged itself on Thursday evening with only a draw on a visit to Ludogorets in the Europa League, it has dominated especially in the first half.
'Before halftime, the team from the Netherlands gave a lecture on how to play modern football and showed how far the Bulgarian teams are from that,' SEGA praises. 'A powerful high pressure, fast counters, one-touch football and a very high intensity of play - Ludogorets could not handle all this.' Ludogorets did come back into the game via two set pieces and that was clever, according to the medium. 'A heroic 2-2 was enough to save the honour of Ludogorets in the Europa League. But despite coming back, the champion of Bulgaria does not gain much for the European rankings.'
'In the first half, the visitors from the Netherlands had total dominance and deservedly walked away from Ludogorets with a clear lead,' 7Din Sport also saw. BTA also saw 'a serious difference in class' between the two teams in the first half. 'But Ludogorets came back thanks to two set pieces and partly because of the not particularly convincing goalkeeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro.' The goalie therefore scored an insufficient score for his performance. 'Inspired by the connecting goal, the equalizer also came from a static moment of play. But after that, the visitors showed again that they have a lot to offer in terms of football', AZ received another compliment for the field play. Despite the draw, BTA also notes that going through after the winter break is a utopia for Ludogorets.

 

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I watched today the youth league confrontations of AZ vs ManUnited, who are the English champions.
Man, these ManUnited guys are several levels below the AZ youth. The only goal they got (given) wasnot even scored by them, but an enormous blunder by the AZ goalie, who let a simple ball passed to him (not even hard, but very slow) slip under his foot into the goal.
The only thing one could blame AZ, was not scoring 5 goals at home and at Old Trafford.
If these guys are the English champions, I wonder what the level of those other big name teams actually is.

 

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Certain journalists were trying to write a this summer transferfree Clasie towards Ajax, which would be a cheap reinforcement, while a weakening of the club Ajax hardly ever can beat.
Jordy Clasie will remain active for AZ in the coming seasons. According to Valentijn Driessen, the Alkmaar club remains in possession of the currently best player in the Eredivisie. Valentijn Driessen praises AZ'er Jordy Clasie. Clasie is already 33 years old, but according to Driessen, his contribution to AZ is still enormous. "Now that Malik Tillman didn't deliver in those home games against Excelsior and AZ, Clasie is the best player in the Eredivisie. He was also great against Ajax," says the journalist in the football podcast Kick-Off. According to Driessen, Clasie has one downside. "Against PSV he was also very strong. He is present in the top matches. He is on the other hand injury-prone, which is why he does not play in the Dutch national team, and that is a shame. It would really be a reinforcement for the Dutch national team." In total, Clasie played seventeen international matches for the Dutch national team. The midfielder played for Excelsior, Feyenoord, Southampton and Club Brugge before his AZ period.