AZ has had a week to forget. The Alkmaarders lost 1-0 to Fortuna Sittard, which means their third loss in one week. Rodrigo Guth was the scorer of the only goal of the match.
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Last Thursday, AZ defended itself bravely in the Basque Country against Athletic Bilbao and three days later the match against Fortuna Sittard was scheduled. Maarten Martens chose three different names in Sittard compared to the match in the Europa League. Denso Kasius, Maxim Dekker and Ibrahim Sadiq were allowed to start. Danny Buijs had no surprises in store. The Fortuna Sittard coach chose the usual names that were already on the field against Sparta Rotterdam last weekend.
AZ started well in Limburg and had the first chance of the match. That came in the name of Sven Mijnans, who was the captain of AZ because Jordy Clasie was missing from the match selection. His effort was too weak to outwit Mattijs Branderhorst. After this moment, Maarten Martens’ team dropped somewhat in level and the most dangerous moments were for Fortuna.
A penalty was the biggest example of this. After VAR intervention, Jochem Kamphuis decided to give a penalty to Fortuna and to give Maxim Dekker, who stepped on an opponent’s foot, a yellow card. The experienced Alen Halilovic took responsibility by standing behind the ball, but shot against the post. It is already the second penalty that the Croat has missed on behalf of Fortuna. This was the case last season in the home match against FC Utrecht.
At the start of the second half, Fortuna continued where it left off. One of the best moments of the match was Ryan Fosso’s shot. The Swiss shot from a considerable distance at the Alkmaar goal, but his shot exploded onto the post. After that moment, AZ started the match a little better. The Alkmaarders were given a lot of space at times and this created opportunities. Mijnans, who was not for the first time this season the most dangerous AZ player, tested Branderhorst again and Zico Buurmeester also gave it a try. The midfielder copied Fosso’s action by shooting hard at the post.
While AZ pushed more and more, it was ultimately Fortuna that took the lead. It was Guth who scored from a finely cut corner kick by Samuel Bastien. The central defender headed the ball hard behind goalkeeper Rome Jayden Owusu Oduro. After that lead, Fortuna Sittard did everything they could to kill the game and they succeeded. As a result, AZ loses for the third time in one week, after FC Utrecht (1-2) and Atheltic Bilbao (2-0) managed to beat the Alkmaarders. Due to the loss, AZ currently occupies third place in the Eredivisie with sixteen points. Fortuna climbs to tenth place.
💥 After hitting the post twice, Fortuna Sittard has finally scored! 🔰 Rodrigo Guth heads in 1️⃣-0️⃣#foraz
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) October 6, 2024
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