The Real Battle in the Eredivisie…

April 11th, 2009 | by: Jan |

With 5 rounds to go in the Eredivisie- or four and a half, now AZ beat NAC on Friday night – the champ is already known. All other decisions are still open though.

AZ has 14 points lead over number 2 Twente (one more game to play than AZ). If Twente and Ajax lose this weekend, the champagne can be opened.

Normally, AZ will win the title at home against Vitesse on April 18. The Van Gaal coached team will qualify for the groups stages of the CL next season.

Second spot and third pre-rounds Champions League

Twente and Ajax fight for the second spot. That position is very valuable. The runner up will participate in the third pre-rounds for the CL. Last season, the number 2 still had to earn that right through play-offs.

A real title battle is off, but the race for number two is again very exciting. Ajax has a better goal ratio and trails one point behind Twente. The competition planner has a good crystal ball, since the top fixture Ajax-Twente is programmed on the last day of the competition. Last season, it was Twente who blocked Ajax from entering the play off finals.

Europa League

The difference between the bonus for number 3 and 4 are small. Both clubs will enter the Europa League, which is the new UEFA cup. The number four will enter the competition in the third pre-round
while number three enters in the fourth.

The number 5 needs to play play offs against the numbers 6, 7 and 8. Looking at the current positions, PSV, FC Groningen, NAC and FC Utrecht will participate in these play offs. But NEC, one point behind Utrecht, and Feyenoord, four points behind, are still in the race for the play offs too.

The results of the Dutch national cup tournament could play big role for NEC and Feyenoord. The winner of the Cup will receive a Europa League ticket as well, so there are several scenarios. The semi finals of the cup tournament are: Twente – NAC and Volendam – Heerenveen.
Let’s look at the scenarios:

1. Twente finishes second in the competition and wins the cup. Twente will qualify for CL football and the losing finalist (Heerenveen or Volendam) will get the Europa League ticket.

2. Heerenveen ends on the fourth place and plays the cup final against Twente. It doesn’t matter if they’ll win or lose, Heerenveen will get a Europa League ticket. The spare ticket (the number 4 ticket for the cup winner) will go to the number 5 of the competition and the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9 will play the play offs.

3. Heerenveen finishes fourth and plays the cup final against NAC. When Heerenveen wins, they’ll play the Europa League ticket and the spare ticket will be for the numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9.

Are you still there?

I won’t even go into the relegation possibilities. The number last will directly be relegated to the Jupiler competition. The numbers 16 ans 17 play play offs against the six periodical champs of that league and the two best numbers 2 and 3 (bar any periodical champs…). The champions of the Jupiler League get promoted directly, of course.

Heracles, ADO Den Haag, Sparta, Roda JC, Volendam and De Graafschap are the main candidates to end on those positions.

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Comments

By Jeroen | April 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Louis van Gaal has announced he’s leaving AZ next year. He wants to coach a national team (pleassse not Holland…) or a team like Real Madrid/Bayern. Lofty requests for a man that couldnt get a star team into the 2002 world cup.
I think hes probably a good club coach (see: Ajax/AZ) but he was a failure as national coach. I wonder how AZ will function without him (and how many of their players they will be able to keep). Its easy to win the league, its much harder keep your players afterwards. Just ask my friends in Amsterdam , theyve been having trouble with it for almost 15 years now.

By Jan | April 11th, 2009 at 6:13 pm

True. Bosman arrest! I think Louis wants to wipe that blemish off his sheet eh? Big coach with big ego wants to perform on the biggest stage. Can’t blame him. But who would want him?

By Carlos | April 11th, 2009 at 6:51 pm

Belgium wants him !!
But they are not gong to the world cup. Think he’ll do a “Hiddink” and pick up a team that has or almost qualified and with his now AZ champions medal on his CV,I am sure someone will grab him towards Joburg.

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | April 11th, 2009 at 9:38 pm

PSV won their game, as did FC Twente, further securing their second spot. NEC couldn’t win again (haven’t won since Been declared he’d leave) and Feyenoord could do some serious business today, in that always-tough Heracles away game. Which I will see tonight live on Setanta!!!!

Seedorf scored the winner for AC Milan.

Hiddink won again, as did Liverpool and ManUnited.

By Rob | April 12th, 2009 at 8:57 am

What about seeding Jan? Is the CL qualifying seeded? Presumably Ajax would get a much more favorable draw than Twente.

I could see Van Gaal getting the Bayern job if they drop away in the Bundesliga like they look they might – with some of their players and money they really should be doing better and Klinsman’s an awful coach.

Posted from Japan

By Jan | April 12th, 2009 at 6:22 pm

No idea about seeding, really… No clue. I don’t know how that works when they do those pre-CL draws and all…

Bayern has been trying to sign Van Gaal a couple of times and times was always wrong. It seems this time around it’s bad timing again. Bayern will want a new coach this summer, while Louis wants to play CL with AZ.

By Tiju | April 13th, 2009 at 1:51 am

Belated happy Easter for my all buddies.hope you all enjoyed well,me too.
ok-let us go to eredivise weekend.
Some how AZ escaped from from NAC.so its clear that AZ diffence is solid and tightly packed with the support of schaars and Da silva.So comapring to the last seasons diffence with current diffence.tha main difference is absence of rayan donk.I mean Donk made too many mistakes in last season and that caused them heavily so no hope for Donk.
Van gaal shouldnt drop AZ for him and for the club.
I hope AZ will do much better than PSV in CL next season with Van Gaal.
Da silva is slightly better than de saaw as a holding midfeild for orange with an additional Rightback option.(terrific tackles by that man).
Ajax is incosistant
Twente doesnt have the depth
PSV doesnt have Nails and sharp knife. thats all from my veiw.

Posted from India

By Jan | April 13th, 2009 at 10:08 am

You left out Feyenoord… Why? Oh…I get it. They’re only number 10 this season! Shame shame shame…

By sonneveld | April 13th, 2009 at 11:04 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25Z7E-lQTLs&feature=channel_page

van persie 2008 09 video I made(sorry about the bad quality)

I think he needs to be in our first 11

By finnster01 | April 13th, 2009 at 11:10 am

Well there’s an open spot at the Czech republic for Van Gaal right away. There’s also Mexico (unless they’ve hired someone already). Russia is going to need one after Abramovich forces Hiddink to take on Chelsea full time.

I don’t think he’ll have to wait long to find a country that wants him.

By Rob | April 13th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Looks like Van Bommel’s at it again with the stupidity:

“Franck has told me he wants to play for Barcelona,” his Bayern Munich team-mate and captain Mark van Bommel told Spanish radio station RAC1.

“He is the best player in Germany and his style of play would fit well with Barca’s because he is strong with great technical ability.”

Bayern fans must be loving him stoking the Ribery exit fires. Honestly, if Oranje take Van Bommel to the WC it’ll be to the detriment of team spirit big time.

Posted from Japan

By Kevin | April 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm

@Rob: not quite http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=636768&sec=uefachampionsleague&cc=5901

By Mario | April 13th, 2009 at 3:45 pm

Finnster:

México hired Javier Aguirre as national coach. So there is no chance for van Gaal. What about South Korea?. They love Dutch coaches after Hiddink´s success over there.

By Jan | April 13th, 2009 at 6:33 pm

No St Korea for Louis. He’d hate the constant comparison with Hiddink.

As for Bommel, I read the interview and he was questioned about it and basically said: Ribery would fit in the Barca style, but luckily he has a deal here till 2011…

By Felipe | April 13th, 2009 at 9:03 pm

Here are my bets (I won’t put my trophy-holder bet – unless a nuclear disaster happens, AZ will get the Eredivisie plate, won’t it?):

2nd spot on CL: Twente – but there’s still a direct match against Ajax…
Spots on Europa League: Ajax, PSV and, as playoff winner, Heerenveen.

People, and I read this today: Anderlecht is following Stekelenburg’s steps, and a deal with the Mauves is possible. What do you think?

By Jan | April 13th, 2009 at 10:36 pm

I’d say Stekel should wait for a bigger club and go to the EPL.

Felipe, I think there’s one more ticket for the national cup winner: Twente, NAC, Heerenveen or Volendam. If Twente wins the 2nd spot AND the cup, the cup runner up gets the ticket. If that’s, say, Heerenveen, another spot is available through play offs. You actually need to be a rocket scientist to work that all out.

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