This weekend was the penultimate round of fixtures for this season's Eredivisie, AZ Alkmaar have already clinched an historic second ever title, but elsewhere there are still matters to be settled. So where else better to start the round up than with the clash between Champions elect AZ and second placed FC Twente.
Steve McClaren has most impressively guided FC Twente to the upcoming KNVB Beker (Dutch cup) final. They will face Heerenveen in two weeks time and will start as favourites to win the trophy for the third time in their history. On top of that they reached the last sixteen of the Uefa Cup losing to Marseille on penalties, it was the first time FC Twente had survived European football into the New Year for thirty seasons!
On Sunday McClaren's team secured their position as runners-up in the Eredivisie in the most emphatic way. The faced the ominous challenge of a visit from Louis van Gaal's AZ Alkmaar, and responded by swatting them aside 3-0. Admittedly AZ have achieved their ultimate prize and as a result may have lost the edge to their competitiveness in the last couple of games.
Even so it was a triumphant result for McClaren, FC Twente have only ever finished in the Eredivisie top two twice before. It is clear that however good the foundations were at the club when he arrived, the manager who was widely ridiculed so recently is making an impressive effort to re-assert his reputation.
From the offset FC Twente pushed forward and appeared keen to settle the matter of who would finish runner-up out of themselves and Ajax this weekend, rather than deciding it when they play each other in the final fixture of the league season. FC Twente defender Douglas twice came close to scoring in the first-half, within the space of five minutes the Brazilian had headers through which he almost broke the stalemate.
McClaren's team had to wait until the second-half to secure an advantage but only for two minutes of it, Kenneth Perez hit the top-left corner from twenty-five yards to settle the tone. With half an hour left, Douglas got to yet another set-piece, this time heading into fellow defender Peter Wisgerhof who applied a simple finish. AZ's Gill Swerts was clearly keen to then get going for an early holiday break, as he almost immediately kicked out at Eljero Elia and got a red card! Elia got his own personal retribution with a little over ten minutes remaining, collecting Nkufo's through-ball and rounding the defender before finishing with aplomb.
Up until about three weeks ago, AZ had been on an incredible unbeaten league run of twenty-eight games, of those they had won twenty-four and drawn just four. It is that form that ultimately made AZ's impressive title challenge become a formidable reality. Ironically enough the Eredivisie was secured on the weekend that they finally lost, FC Twente had also lost for the first time in months after their own twenty-one match unbeaten record ended at Feyenoord. The results left AZ too far ahead and the inevitable was confirmed for their title quest.
As said, the big threat to FC Twente securing 2nd place (where they've been for most of the season) was Ajax. The Amsterdam outfit travelled to Rotterdam to face the city namesakes Sparta. Marco van Basten's team have been increasingly erratic in recent weeks and there are a few similarities with the legendary footballer's position and worries to that of Jurgen Klinsmaan. Considering that Bayern Munich have just sacked their coach, it doesn't take a lot to realise that van Basten is under increasing pressure.
A little over three weeks ago Ajax destroyed Willem II 7-0 but since then they have not won, their next result saw them get taken apart 6-2 by their rivals PSV Eindhoven. This weekend was no better as they capitulated to a team who was hovering above the relegation places. Sparta Rotterdam maintained their Eredivisie position for next season by cantering to a 4-0 win which had looked unlikely in the opening third of the match.
Despite looking in control in the early stages Ajax again demonstrated their soft underbelly, in the last five minutes to half-time they conspired to concede twice. First Edouard Duplan and then Yuri Rose reacted quickest to each score with low finishes. Ajax made slight inroads in the second half but their clearest chances only came from a goal-mouth scramble that produced three frantic efforts.
Oleguer then got sent off for Ajax with a quarter of an hour remaining, Sparta's numerical advantage was swiftly realised when the time left gave them two more goals with quality finishing. Joshua John and finally the Nigerian defender Dele Adeleye struck from long range to secure Sparta Rotterdam's top-flight football pedigree.
Elsewhere in the Eredivisie it seems that most of the interest is now on the relegation scrap, despite some poor results for some of the clubs in the relegation places, there remains a chance that any of the bottom four could escape. As it stands with one game remaining, Roda JC are at the foot of the Eredivisie with 27 points, above them on 28 is Volendam, and above that lies De Graafschap and ADO Den Haag on 29 points each.
So whilst it is now guaranteed that one of those teams will be relegated and another two will go into a relegation play-off, one of the four named will survive on for 2009/10. The hope, nerves and despair awaiting them is that the combinations remain for them all to finish anywhere in those bottom four places. It is possible during the live scores of the last round of fixtures that they may all be theoretically relegated at some point!
De Graafschap was the only team to win out of the bottom five last weekend, gaining three vital points after a 1-0 triumph away against eighth-placed NAC. All of a sudden they have a real chance of jumping away from relegation at the last moment, in their final match they will host similarly threatened Volendam with the knowledge that victory will save them.
Roda JC may have the most pride to lose as they have never been relegated from the Eredivisie, unfortunately for them they now face the most difficult effort to survive. This weekend they continued their recent poor run when they went down 1-0 at home to Willem II, although they were defeated in the cruellest of ways. Roda were in the ascendancy for most of the match as they created several opportunities, in fact they hit the cross-bar once in each half. Then in the 92nd minute Niels Vorthoren slid in a cross from close range to possibly condemn Roda JC to the unknown.