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On Sunday, the last five matches of the 14th round of the Dutch "Eredivisie" league were played. Unexpected failures were experienced by long-time champions of the championship, Amsterdam's "Ajax", as well as one of the leaders, Rotterdam's "Feyenoord". The outsider "Den Haag" convincingly beat "Groningen", "Heerenveen" lost to "AZ", and "Roda" somehow managed to break resistance against "NAC" at home.
The biggest sensation was recorded in Rotterdam, where the absolute underdog of the league, "Sparta", hosted the titled opponents from Amsterdam, "Ajax". The crucial moment of the match happened in the 12th minute when "Ajax" leader Wesley Sneijder was sent off the field after receiving a second yellow card for verbal abuse. Taking advantage of the numerical superiority, the opponents managed to score in the 35th minute - Yuri Rose headed the ball into the net from a raised penalty shot.
At the beginning of the second half, a penalty was awarded to the visitors, which was scored with a powerful shot into the bottom corner of the goal by Sjaak Polak. At the end of the match, Haris Medunjanin secured the point by scoring a beautiful penalty goal, giving his team a second victory in these championships. After this unexpected defeat, "Ajax" dropped to third place with 31 points, trailing the leader Eindhoven's "PSV" by six points. "Sparta" remains in 16th place.
Another unexpected result was marked in Nijmegen, where the local "NEC" faced Rotterdam's "Feyenoord". The visitors were "beaten" only in the second half of the second half, and their crushing began with Brett Holman, and with 10 minutes left to play, "Feyenoord" conceded three more goals: first scored by Chris Eagles on loan from "Man Utd", then Dominique Kivuvu, and moments later Andrzej Niedzielan once again defeated the visitors' goalkeeper Henk Timmer.
Nevertheless, "Feyenoord" managed to soften the result in the last minutes of the match - this was done by the hosts' defender Patrick Pothuizen. After this embarrassing defeat, "Feyenoord" remains in 5th place with 26 points, while "NEC" rises to 11th place.
In other no less interesting matches, "Heerenveen" and Alkmaar's "AZ" clashed. The home team scored the first goal in these matches, with the most productive "Heerenveen" player Alfonso Alves being the scorer. However, the equalizer was not long in coming, when after seven minutes the "AZ" team's foreign legionnaire from Georgia, Shota Arveladze, scored.
Despite the resistance of "Heerenveen", the "AZ" players managed to conserve more energy, and in the 81st minute Danny Koevermans confirmed this with an accurate shot. The hosts finally succumbed after four minutes and conceded the decisive goal, scored by Maarten Martens. After this victory, "AZ" overtakes "Ajax" by one point and takes second place, while "Heerenveen" is in eighth.
In the next seven-goal thriller match, "Groningen" met with underdogs "Den Haag". The visitors took the lead in the 3rd minute when Goran Bunjevcevic scored. But after eight minutes, the hosts equalized the score, with Goran Lovre as the scorer. In the 27th minute, "Den Haag" scored their second goal through Richard Knopper, but a minute later, "Groningen" once again leveled the score - with Erik Nevland as the scorer.
At the beginning of the second half, for the third time in this match, the visitors took the lead when Kristoffer Weckstrom beat the home goalkeeper. After more than 20 minutes, the "Den Haag" team doubled their lead with the aforementioned R. Knopper, and with five minutes left to play, Santi Kolk added another to the "Groningen" goal. After this win, "Den Haag" is in 17th place but has played one game less, while "Groningen" remains in sixth.
In the last matches, the footballers of Kerkrade's "Roda" and Breda's "NAC" took to the field. The goal that the gathered spectators had to wait for more than half an hour was finally scored in the 40th minute by "NAC" forward Edwin de Graaf. At the beginning of the second half, the home player Andres Oper equalized, and in the 63rd minute, "Roda" took the lead after a precise shot by Dave de Fauw.
At the end of the match, Adil Ramzi scored the third goal for his team, which seemed to leave no room for "NAC" to save themselves, but the visitors did not raise the white flag and after five minutes, Mike Zonneveld managed to only soften the result. After this victory, "Roda" is in 7th place, while "NAC" is in 12th.
Sunday's Dutch "Eredivisie" results:
"Sparta" 3 - 0 "Ajax" 35‘ [1 - 0] Yuri Rose 58‘ [2 - 0] Sjaak Polak (penalty) 84‘ [3 - 0] Haris Medunjanin 12‘ Wesley Sneijder ("Ajax") sent off the field
"NEC" 4 - 1 "Feyenoord" 54‘ [1 - 0] Brett Holman 80‘ [2 - 0] Chris Eagles 83‘ [3 - 0] Dominique Kivuvu 86‘ [4 - 0] Andrzej Niedzielan 90‘ [4 - 1] Patrick Pothuizen (own goal)
"Heerenveen" 1 - 3 "AZ" 20‘ [1 - 0] Alfonso Alves 27‘ [1 - 1] Shota Arveladze 81‘ [1 - 2] Danny Koevermans 85‘ [1 - 3] Maarten Martens
"Groningen" 2 - 5 "Den Haag" 3‘ [0 - 1] Goran Bunjevcevic 13‘ [1 - 1] Goran Lovre 27‘ [1 - 2] Richard Knopper 28‘ [2 - 2] Erik Nevland 48‘ [2 - 3] Kristoffer Weckstrom 70‘ [2 - 4] Richard Knopper 86‘ [2 - 5] Santi Kolk
"Roda" 3 - 2 "NAC" 40‘ [0 - 1] Edwin de Graaf 53‘ [1 - 1] Andres Oper 63‘ [2 - 1] Dave de Fauw 81‘ [3 - 1] Adil Ramzi 86‘ [3 - 2] Mike Zonneveld
