Sugawara wins it for AZ

Published on 08 februari 21, 10:08

EMMEN- In a freezing cold Drenthe, AZ has earned a hard-fought victory over FC Emmen. The away game, which was played at 2 pm instead of 8 pm due to the bad weather forecast, was decided by a goal from defender Yukinari Sugawara: 0-1.

Pascal Jansen started with the same 11 players as in last week's game against Ajax. They where dangerous a couple of times during the first half, but couldn’t put one past Sheffield United loanie Michael Verrips. On the other side, FC Emmen’s Caner Cavlan got close to scoring, but Marco Bizot managed to save.

The start of the second half looked promising as AZ put more energy into the game. This finally resulted in a 71st minute goal, when Yukinari Sugawara received the ball from Albert Gudmundsson and put it home.

During the last 20 minutes, both teams got some opportunities but didn’t manage to score, resulting in a arduous victory for the Alkmaarders.

MATCH STATISTICS
FC Emmen - AZ 0-1 (0-0)
Eredivisie

Line-up FC Emmen: Michael Verrips; Ricardo van Rhijn (85. Robbert de Vos), Miguel Araujo, Nick Bakker, Caner Cavlan (65. Jean-Pierre Rhyner); Sergio Peña, Jari Vlak (75. Nikolai Laursen), Michael de Leeuw, Hilal Ben Moussa (85. Lucas Bernadou), Kerim Frei; Paul Gladon.

Line-up AZ: Marco Bizot; Yukinari Sugawara, Pantelis Hatzidiakos, Bruno Martins Indi, Owen Wijndal; Fredrik Midtsjø, Albert Gudmundsson (90. Tijjani Reijnders), Teun Koopmeiners; Calvin Stengs, Myron Boadu, Jesper Karlsson.

Goals: 71. Sugawara 0-1
Yellow cards: Hatzidiakos (AZ)
Red Cards: -
Referee: Pol van Boekel