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Willem II relegated from Eredivisie despite victory | Football

Extremely surprising is the final sixteenth place of Heracles Almelo, which was trumped in-house by Sparta Rotterdam (1-3), and therefore has to enter the promotion/relegation play-offs. In addition to Fortuna, Sparta, which was still in danger of relegation beforehand, also ensured their survival.

Willem II set the tone for the blood-curdling afternoon of relegation football by taking the lead in the 8th minute of the home match against FC Utrecht with a goal from Jizz Hornkamp. Willem II took advantage of a mistake in the home team’s build-up and brutally took the lead. For Hornkamp it was the fourth goal in thirteen matches. Quite an average for the striker who was taken over from FC Den Bosch in January and who immediately had to work hard.

The fanatical supporters of Willem II had requested the club management not to play the traditionally played club song ‘Hup Willem II, tough guys’ in advance, so as not to disrupt the build-up to the match, a request that was complied with. The fanatical Tilburg supporters provided a witch’s cauldron in the Willem II stadium.

Zian Flemming took care of the 0-1.

Zian Flemming took care of the 0-1.

Due to Willem II’s early lead, Fortuna, who started as number 16, virtually dived under the red line. Willem II virtually came through in the play-off spot, while Sparta remained in safe fifteenth place.

The picture changed when Fortuna Sittard also took the lead five minutes after Willem II. Last Wednesday, trainer Sjors Ultee did not have access to the suspended threesome Zian Flemming, Mats Seuntjens and Deroy Duarte against Vitesse. That was a huge loss. In Nijmegen, the trio was back in the starting lineup. For Flemming it was already the twelfth goal of the season. In recent weeks, in particular, his importance has been huge with six goals and one assist in his last six games.

Due to Fortuna’s lead, the panels shifted again at the bottom. Despite the lead, Willem II was again virtually 17th, Sparta dropped to the play-off spot while Fortuna jumped to virtual 15th place.

Just before half time, Sparta Rotterdam followed the example of the two major competitors. In the direct duel with Heracles Almelo, who was also in danger of relegation, the team of coach Maurice Steijn took the lead via Arno Verschueren shortly before half time. As a result, Sparta, which had to miss the support of its own supporters in Almelo due to stadium safety, pushed the home team towards sixteenth place, which results in participation in the promotion/relegation play-offs. Heracles hadn’t been in a relegation spot since the sixth match day, so the stress was screaming through the throats in Almelo, where they have already experienced a season full of painful events. For example, Ismail Azzaoui and Kaj Sierhuis suffered serious injuries and Rai Vloet had to be fired on the spot after causing a fatal accident and construction errors were found in Erve Asito.

Sadness at Heracles Almelo, which will still have to work hard in the fight against relegation.

Sadness at Heracles Almelo, which will still have to work hard in the fight against relegation.

Also against Sparta, the fate was not in favor of the home team. Heracles thought he was going to get a penalty when Spartan Aaron Meijers got the ball on his hand within the box, but referee Danny Makkelie judged it to be a not punishable handball to the dismay of the tuckers.

The images:

Sparta defended with all his might after the break, while Heracles increasingly desperately sought the attack. In a single outbreak of Sparta, however, it was hit. Joeri de Kamps put Meijers in front of the keeper and he scored well against Lennart Thy: 0-2. And moments later, Mario Engels even made it 0-3, completing Steijn’s fairy tale. Under the leadership of the new trainer, Sparta took ten points from the last four games and with that Steijn has ensured that he will be active with Sparta in the Eredivisie next season.

The 3-0 deficit came hard in Almelo, where the crowd yelled ‘Shame on you’ to their own team. With that score in their own game, Heracles could only hope that NEC would score against Fortuna. That hope was also cherished in Tilburg, where Willem II also finished 3-0 after the break through a goal by Driess Saddiki and an own goal by FC Utrecht midfielder Joris van Overeem.

Willem II's three goals do not help the club from Tilburg.

Willem II’s three goals do not help the club from Tilburg.

The equalizer so fervently desired by Heracles and Willem II was also in it, because in the second half NEC-Fortuna developed into an extremely one-sided duel, in which Fortuna could only stop and NEC developed legion danger. However, with the Greek defender Dimitrios Siovas as a rock and thanks to a good goalkeeper Yanick van Osch, Jonatha Okita, Ali Akman and substitute Javier Vet, among others, did not get the ball in. NEC had virtually eighth place in advance and had to win to secure participation in the play-offs, but the people of Nijmegen bite their teeth on Fortuna’s urge to survive.

The goldcrest of the match against Go Ahead Eagles, Ibrahim Cissoko, could not change that, although he caused a lot of threat with his substitute. It remained blood-curdlingly exciting in Nijmegen, until the last second of stoppage time, because a late equalizer would ensure that Fortuna would lose their body in extremis and would be directly relegated. That equalizer by NEC was very close in stoppage time, in which keeper Mattijs Branderhorst joined in, but Flemming first saved on the goal line on a bet by Elayis Tavsan and immediately afterwards Lisandro Semedo took a bet from the goal line.

And so Fortuna secured another year of Eredivisie football on the gums and the Limburgers plunged both the 3-0 winning Willem II of ex-Fortuna coach Kevin Hofland and the 3-0 losing Heracles in mourning.

Anger at Heracles for lack of penalty and post-competition

The anger was great at Heracles Almelo after the last round in the Eredivisie. The team of trainer Frank Wormuth lost 3-1 to Sparta Rotterdam on its own artificial grass and therefore has to enter the play-offs for promotion/relegation as number 16 in the ranking. Angry supporters gathered in front of the stadium’s main entrance afterwards, where they talked to the club management.

Wormuth, who will transfer to FC Groningen after this season, was also angry. The German thought that Heracles had deserved a penalty shortly after half-time when Sparta defender Aaron Meijers got the ball on his hand. The ball therefore grazed his thigh and that was reason for the VAR to let referee Danny Makkelie know that it was not a penalty.

“But this is clearly hands-on, isn’t it?” said Wormuth at the ESPNafter seeing the TV footage. “I have said many times that we have to accept arbitration decisions. But this could have changed the game, this should have been a penalty.” Meijers had a different lecture. “I didn’t see the ball coming,” said Sparta’s left back. “The ball is 100 percent sure on my knee and therefore goes on my arm. Then the rule is that it is not a penalty kick. I really couldn’t help it, otherwise I would have pulled my arm away.”

Heracles now has to enforce a longer stay in the Eredivisie via the play-offs. “I immediately told the boys in the dressing room that they have to show character, that is now being asked of them,” said Wormuth. “We have four games for that.”

Defenders Vriends and Auassar praise Sparta’s team spirit

Defenders Adil Auassar and Bart Vriends of Sparta Rotterdam praised the team spirit of their team after the successful enforcement in the Eredivisie. Sparta won 3-1 at Heracles and finished the season in fourteenth place. The Almeloërs finished sixteenth and have to play the play-offs against relegation. “It was a tough season, but we can always build on team spirit and passion,” said Vriends at ESPN.

Auassar spoke of a victory over his Italian. “We finished the counter right away and gave little away. In the first half there was only a shot on the crossbar. It was a great team performance.”

Despite their own lead at halftime, it was not made easy for Sparta. “We heard that everyone was in favor, that increased the pressure,” said Auassar. Vriends: “It would have been nice if the rest had lent a hand, but we had to do it all ourselves. The last few weeks have been fantastic, I am very happy with it.”

Willem II relegated with most points

Willem II did not make it in the Eredivisie with 33 points. For the first time since the introduction of the three-point system, a club with such a high number was relegated directly from the highest Dutch football competition. Willem II had 3 points less than FC Groningen, which finished in twelfth place and still had a chance of participating in the play-offs for European football during the last round.

According to data agency Gracenote, the old ‘record’ was 29 points. With that number, FC Volendam (2008-2009) and Roda JC (2013-2014) relegated from the Eredivisie.

For a long time, only the number 18 relegated directly from the Eredivisie; the teams that finished in sixteenth and seventeenth place had to enter the play-offs. Since a few years, the number 17 has also been relegated directly, the number 16 has to play in safety through the play-offs for promotion/relegation.

PEC Zwolle (27 points) and Willem II (33) are relegated to the Kitchen Champion Division this season. Heracles Almelo (34) enters the play-offs.

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