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Over the weekend in the Netherlands, the 17th round of the Dutch "Eredivisie" championship took place, where victories were achieved by the trio of leaders - Eindhoven's "PSV", Alkmaar's "AZ" and Amsterdam's "Ajax", and as usual, a plethora of goals poured in, along with a multitude of red cards. In total, 7 red cards were shown in 9 matches.
The country's champions had no trouble against Almelo's "Heracles", who played with ten men from the middle of the first half - in the 25th minute of the game Eddy Bosnar roughly fouled Arouna Kone in the penalty area, and the penalty kick was successfully converted by Timmy Simons. The "PSV" eleven continued to dominate on the field. In the second half, after just 6 minutes, captain Philip Cocu scored a header goal, and the last point in the match was contributed by Patrick Kluivert, for whom this was the first goal in this championship. For the "PSV" team, this was already the 11th consecutive victory, and this team has not conceded a goal for 829 minutes.
Klaas Jan Huntelaar continues to show impressive form. In the match against Rotterdam's "Excelsior", the player scored a hat-trick and helped his team win with a score of 3-1. By the way, the hosts ended this match with nine men, as Jos van Nieuwstadt and Sieme Zijmas were sent off the field due to red cards.
Alkmaar's "AZ" defeated "Groningen" 2-0 and secured second place. Both goals for "AZ" were scored in the first half - Gijs Luirink and Danny Koevermans found the back of the net.
Finally, "Den Haag" climbed out of the last place, beating Tilburg's "Willem II" 2-1 in front of their own fans. Thanks to a better goal difference, The Hague's team rose to 17th position, with Waalwijk's "RKC" ending up in last place after losing 0-1 at home to Nijmegen's "NEC".
Results of round 17
"PSV" 3 - 0 "Heracles" 25' [0 - 1] T. Simons (penalty) 51' [2 - 0] P. Cocu 64' [3 - 0] P. Kluivert 25' E. Bosnar ("Heracles") sent off
"Den Haag" 2 - 1 "Willem II" 8' [1 - 0] E. Elia 20' [2 - 0] S. Kolk 53' [2 - 1] I. Kargbo
"Roda" 2 - 4 "Vitesse" 26' [1 - 0] S. Cissé 29' [2 - 0] A. Oper 38' [2 - 1] D. Lazovic 49' [2 - 2] A. Pryor 74' [2 - 3] D. Lazovic 90' [2 - 4] F. Benson 68' D.d. Fauw ("Roda") sent off
"Sparta" 0 - 3 "NAC" 9' [0 - 1] B. Pinas 28' [0 - 2] P. Mtiliga 45' [0 - 3] M. Rigters
"Excelsior" 1 - 3 "Ajax" 24' [0 - 1] K.J. Huntelaar 48' [0 - 2] K.J. Huntelaar 74' [0 - 3] K.J. Huntelaar 90' [1 - 3] M. Pique 36' J.v. Nieuwstadt and 53' S. Zijn (both from "Excelsior") sent off
"Utrecht" 2 - 1 "Feyenoord" 9' [1 - 0] G.v. Dijk (penalty) 17' [2 - 0] R. Nelisse 90' [2 - 1] R. Vlaar 83' G. Rossini ("Utrecht") and 90' D. Buijs ("Feyenoord") sent off
"RKC" 0 - 1 "NEC" 37' [0 - 1] R. Denneboom
"AZ" 2 - 0 "Groningen" 26' [1 - 0] G. Luirink 43' [2 - 0] D. Koevermans (penalty)
"Twente" 5 - 1 "Heerenveen" 7' [1 - 0] B. NKufo 23' [1 - 1] A. Alves 41' [2 - 1] S. Touma 57' [3 - 1] J. Heubach 72' [4 - 1] B. NKufo 80' [5 - 1] K. Bakircioglu 62' T. Prager ("Heerenveen") sent off
League table
