ALTIDORE UNCONCERNED

The United States international striker Jozy Altidore has said that he is not concerned about the lack of selection into the national team squad in recent matches. Jozy Altidore was regarded as one of the young and bright talents for the national team only a few years ago. However, many failed spells at major clubs have resulted in the striker falling out favour with the current national team manager – Jurgen Klinsmann. However, he has been one of the best strikers since moving to the Dutch club AZ Alkmaar. He has already scored 11 goals in the season, which have made everyone take notice of the striker.

Recently, the Dutch club revealed that their matches have been watched by a number of scouts from big clubs like Bayern Munich, Chelsea, and Real Madrid. Even though the overall results have not been good, the form of the striker Jozy Altidore has been enough to convince them to come and watch AZ Alkmaar matches. Despite this good run of form, Jozy Altidore still continues to be looked down by the manager for the national team selection. The striker, however, has said that he is not worried. The United States will be playing in a friendly match against Russia, but he is once again expected to miss this encounter.

“I’m not losing any sleep over it. I obviously love playing for my country, which is a dream of mine. But I’m focusing on just getting better and trying to score goals. I can’t worry about things that are out of my control,” said the striker in a recent interview given to the CNN. His agent has also revealed that his client is not looking for a move away from the club at this stage because he feels extremely happy at AZ Alkmaar.

AZ LOSE OUT

AZ Alkmaar has been defeated by NEC Nijmegen in Dutch Eredivisie match played at AFAS Stadion Alkmaar. NEC won the match by 2-0. This was the third victory for NEC in the ongoing Eredivisie League.

With the help of this victory, NEC has now moved up to no. 7 in the Eredivisie points table. NEC has played 9 matches in the tournament so far out of which it has won three matches. NEC has been defeated in three matches and the remaining three games have finished in the form of draws. NEC currently has 12 points in nine games.

On the other hand, this was the fourth defeat for Alkmaar in the tournament. Alkmaar has managed to win only two out of the nine matches that the team has played in this competition so far. Alkmaar has lost four games, while, the remaining three games have ended without any result. Alkmaar is currently placed at no. 13 in the Eredivisie points table with 9 points in 9 matches.

Alkmaar came into this match without Adam Maher and Jozy Altidore. Both the players were suspended. The Alkmaar team had not been beaten in any of its home matches in the ongoing league before this match. But, Gertjan Verbeek’s boys didn’t manage to continue their winning streak.

NEC earned a free kick in the 15th minute of the match and Ryan Koolwijk was given the responsibility to take the free kick. The Dutchman beat the Alkmaar goalkeeper quite comfortably with a flat shot.

The NEC team got a penalty kick just a couple of minutes later and again, it was Koolwijk who took the kick and he latched on that opportunity to double the lead of his team.

Alkmaar wasn’t able to score any goal in the match and suffered its second defeat on the trot. Alkmaar will play its next match against Vitesse A on Sunday.

DISAPPOINTING

The AZ Alkmaar manager Gertjan Verbeek has said that he is extremely disappointed with the outcome of the 5-1 defeat suffered at the hands of PSV during the weekend. AZ Alkmaar were coming into the match on the back of a humbling 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala in the Europa league. Gertjan Verbeek said ahead of the match that he wanted the players to be extremely professional and avoid unwanted mistakes. However, they were extremely poor once again and they crumbled to a 5-1 defeat to PSV.

This defeat has meant that AZ Alkmaar have slipped to the 10th position in the table. This has put a lot of pressure on the manager Gertjan Verbeek, who has been in charge of the team since 2010. He has said that his team was comprehensively outplayed by PSV and he will be looking to bring many changes ahead of the next match. AZ Alkmaar were completely outplayed, but a number of good counter-attacks helped them scored the lone goal that proved to be nothing more than a consolation. The club will be facing Roda JC and NAC Breda in the next matches. AZ Alkmaar will be very much looking forward to getting back to the home soil according to the manager.

“We were down to ten men after just eight minutes. After Reijnen had been sent off, we were vulnerable in defence for a few minutes. Yet we were defensively well-organised again soon and started some fine counter attacks. We had been forced to dig deep in the second half and had not fully recovered yet when the second half got under way. A second PSV goal was inevitable and from then on we lacked spirit and strength of character,” said the manager after the match.