It has increasingly become an issue in South Rotterdam in recent weeks: the expensive Ayase Ueda was only accurate once this season before Sunday’s match and has not been able to find the net since the beginning of September. The Japanese striker was finally able to distinguish himself against Heerenveen. With the score at 2-2, he took advantage of fumbling in the Frisian defense and shot the Rotterdam team to a hard-fought victory with his first goal of the calendar year.
Heeeeey, hey Ueda, ooh aah. I wanna knooow, if you’ll score a goal!, it sounded again on Sunday afternoon from the away section in the Abe Lenstra, when Ueda relieved his fellow striker Santiago Gimenez in the 75th minute. The Japanese has continued to enjoy great popularity at Het Legioen since his arrival to Feyenoord, although there have been more and more grumblings about his performance due to the lack of goals. The 25-year-old attacker has been a kind of pinch hitter in Arne Slot’s team all season, but in the absence of Gimenez has also been given the opportunity as a starter in the recent period. He pulled, dragged, entered into duels and made runs, but was always unable to be important for Feyenoord.
Until Sunday afternoon when he was introduced just after Igor Paixao’s equalizer. Feyenoord seemed to be facing an expensive loss of points against Heerenveen, if it were not for the fact that the attacker, who came over from Cercle Brugge, was sharp in building up the Frisian home team. The Japanese put good pressure on Syb van Ottele, stole the ball from him after the defender’s bumbling and then pushed the winning goal behind goalkeeper Mickey van der Hart. Ueda was finally able to be decisive for his team with a goal and was rewarded by the supporters with a rating of 7.7.
When Slot is asked about Ueda after the match in Friesland, the trainer speaks of an introverted boy who would like to repay the club’s trust and works hard for that. “He has always done that and sooner or later you always get the reward for hard work. He got that today and I hope it is the start of many more to come. I don’t want to talk him into anything, but the first goal in De Kuip is still a bit hiccupy there.”
The Feyenoord manager would like to make a request to the supporters. “The next time he comes on, let our fans fully embrace him. They already do that, but even more extreme. In the same way as Santiago, I would almost say, he could use that.”
Timon Wellenreuther
6,1
Lutsharel Geertruida
7,0
Thomas Beelen
6,5
David Hancko
6,5
Quilindschy Hartman
6,5
Mats Wieffer
7,4
Ramiz Zerrouki
5,7
Yankuba Minteh
6,9
Quinten Timber
6,4
Luka Ivanusec
7,2
Santiago Gimenez
5,7
Ondrej Lingr
6,4
Igor Paixão
7,3
Bart Nieuwkoop
6,5
Ayase Ueda
7,7
