Rasmus Elm’s first-half strike gave the hosts a deserving lead, but Simon Poulsen’s own goal made sure the spoils were shared in an evenly contested battle.
AZ Alkmaar resumed their Eredivisie action when they recorded a 1-1 stalemate against Ajax Amsterdam at AFAS Stadion on Sunday, January 22.
The reigning Eredivisie champions started the match brightly away from home and had their first goalscoring opportunity in the seventh minute. However, Nick Viergever’s perfectly timed tackle denied http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Miralem-Sulejmani-c25985 from hitting the back of the net.
The home side gained momentum as the match progressed and came close to breaking the deadlock in the 24th minute through http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Charlison-Benschop-c8846, but the striker hesitated too long inside the box and the chance went begging.
Seven minutes later, Benschop's powered effort was parried away impressively by the Amsterdammers goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jan-Vertonghen-c17814 cleared the ball neatly afterwards.
In the 36th minute, Adam Maher was brought down by the Belgian stopper just outside the penalty area. Rasmus Elm’s curling effort found the back of the net from the resulting free-kick to give the hosts a deserving lead.
The Amsterdammers pressed hard for an equaliser in the remaining action of the opening half, but failed to create any good opportunities.
AZ started the second-half way better than the visitors and could have doubled the lead when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Simon-Poulsen-c33562 played a brilliant one-two to set up Benschop upfront. However, Vermeer was quick in coming off his, much to the relief of the Amsterdammers
head coach, Frank de Boer.
Two minutes later, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Esteban-Alvarado-c12908.
In the 68th minute, Lorenzo Ebecilio’s powered his shot past the diving AZ goalkeeper, but his effort also went wide of the target.
Seven minutes later, the Amsterdammers scored the equaliser they were looking for, following a brilliant move. Sulejmani and Nicolas Lodeiro played a neat one-two before the latter poked in the ball with aid from a deflection off Poulsen.
The home side tried to score the winner and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jozy-Altidore-c19634 came close to claiming all three points for his side, but Vermeer did well to push the American ace’s header away for a corner.
When the referee blew the final whistle, the score-line read 1-1 with both sides sharing a point each.
Despite dropping two crucial points in the race for the Eredivisie title, the Alkmaar outfit maintain their position at the summit of the table, as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Utrecht-c39237 also ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
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