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Over the weekend, the 22nd round of matches of the Dutch "Eredivisie" championship were played, which provided the biggest surprise presented by the mid-table Kerkrade's "Roda" team, who defeated the country's champion and current sole leader Eindhoven's "PSV" on their own field.
In the middle of the first half, the first goal for the "Roda" team was scored by Jan Saeijs. And although later "PSV" had countless opportunities to equalize the result, it was Andreas Oper who sealed the home team's victory at the end of the match, which was already their ninth in this competition. Meanwhile, "PSV" suffered only their second defeat.
It was a close call that Amsterdam's "Ajax" couldn't take advantage of this unexpected setback, as a similar "trick" was almost pulled off by the "Groningen" team, but the second-placed players managed to salvage a point. In their match against "Ajax," the Groningen team took the lead after goals from Jevgenijus Levčenko and Luis Suarez.
Shortly after the break, Jaap Stam scored a goal to narrow the margin. With eight minutes left until the end of regular time, Johnny Heitinga equalized the score. And just when it seemed that the match would end in a draw, Santiago Leonardo snatched three points for the "Ajax" team. After this dramatic victory, "Ajax" reduced their gap from "PSV" to 8 points.
Alkmaar's "AZ" in third place had a much easier time. In their match against visitors Rotterdam's "Sparta," after goals from Shota Arveladze, Maarteno Martens, and a goal scored by Steve Olfers himself, they secured a victory with a scoreline of 3-0.
In Rotterdam, the local "Feyenoord" also had no trouble with Waalwijk's "RKC". The hosts took the lead in the 26th minute after De Guzman's goal, later doubling the scoreline through Luiz Andre-Bahia. In the second half, Ricky van den Bergh softened the score, but in the end, Angelo Charisteas dashed all the visitors' hopes. After this victory, "Feyenoord" continues to trail fourth-placed Enschede's "Twente" by two points, as the latter also won at home with the same scoreline against the underdogs "Den Haag".
The biggest victory of the round was secured by "Heerenveen," who at home crushed Almelo's "Heracles" 5-1.
All weekend results:
"Heerenveen" 5-1 "Heracles" 3' [1 - 0] L. Nilsson 39' [2 - 0] A. Alves 44' [3 - 0] A. Alves 51' [3 - 1] K. Quansah 63' [4 - 1] D. Pranjic 78' [5 - 1] R. Friend
"Willem II" 0 - 0 "Vitesse"
"AZ" 3 - 0 "Sparta" 22' [1 - 0] S. Arveladze 46' [2 - 0] S. Olfers (own goal) 52' [3 - 0] M. Martens
"Utrecht" 1 - 0 "Excelsior" 41' [1 - 0] H. Somers
"NEC" 2 - 1 "NAC" 22' [1 - 0] B. Holman 35' [2 - 0] R. Denneboom 59' [2 - 1] S.v. Gessel
"Groningen" 2 - 3 "Ajax" 20' [1 - 0] J. Levčenko (from penalty spot) 40' [2 - 0] L. Suarez 53' [2 - 1] J. Stam 82' [2 - 2] J. Heitinga 90' [2 - 3] S. Leonardo
"Twente" 3 - 1 "Den Haag" 15' [1 - 0] J. Heubach 33' [1 - 1] L. Delorge 58' [2 - 1] S. Touma 88' [3 - 1] I. Aissati
"Feyenoord" 3 - 1 "RKC" 26' [1 - 0] J.D. Guzman 35' [2 - 0] A.J. Bahia 53' [2 - 1] R.v.d. Bergh 85' [3 - 1] A. Charisteas
"Roda" 2 - 0 "PSV" 22' [1 - 0] J.P. Saeijs 86' [2 - 0] A. Oper
League table
