AZ wins Johan Cruyff Cup 5-1 vs Heerenveen

Ronald Koeman debuts as AZ coach with a cup! AZ won the 14th edition of the Johan Cruyff Trophee in the Amsterdam Arena, against cup winner Heerenveen. This is the first time AZ won the JC cup.

Koeman’s team led 3-0 after 30 minutes of play, goals by Aussie Brett Holman, El Hamdaoui and Maarten Martens. Heerenveen’s debutant Papadopulos (not a Friesian name) scored for the Northerners before Jeremain Lens scored twice in the last half hour: 5-1.

AZ succeeds PSV as the holder of the JC cup.

Koeman was happy after the game, and feels he doesn’t need to worry about AZ’s attacking abilities.
“We were very sharp today. Defensively, however, there’s work to be done. If we didn’t have a top class goalie, we would have had to concede three goals at least.”

Sergio Romero, AZ’s Argentine goalie, needed three miraculous saves in the first half to stop Heerenveen from scoring. All three times after sloppy defending by the Alkmaar players.

“Although it’s great to have won this cup, we shouldn’t think we’re there. Heerenveen could have scored four or five goals and we need to improve that and we need to so quick.”

In the last big warm up in the pre season against Hamburg, AZ failed to convert chances into goals. “The opportunities we had against HSV were even bigger, and we didn’t score. A week later we score five brilliant goals. That’s football.”