Ruud Brood’s side have been unimpressive in the 2012/13 campaign thus far, and it seems unlikely that their fortunes would be changing this Friday against Jan Wouter’s men.
In the sixth round of the Dutch top flight football, Roda JC Kerkrade will lock horns against FC Utrecht at Parkstad Limburg Stadion on Friday, September 21.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roda-JC-c40375 Kerkrade
De Koempels suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of AZ Alkmaar at AFAS Stadion on September 16. The Alkmaar outfit dominated proceedings throughout the 90 minutes, and a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jozy-Altidore-c19634 hat-trick coupled with a goal from
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Erik-Falkenburg-c12753 secured a comfortable victory for Gertjan Verbeek’s side.
After finishing 10th on the Eredivisie table last term, De Limburgers commenced the new season with the aim to compete for a European competition berth. However, the Kerkrade outfit have thus far failed to secure good
results.
Occupying the 13th spot on the league table, De Koempels are mere two points clear from the danger zone. They have an overall record of 5 played, 1 won, 1 drawn and 3 lost.
Ruud Brood, Roda JC head coach, expressed his disappointment with his side’s performance, but has uttered confidence that his side will return to winning ways.
FC Utrecht
The Utreg are heading into the game on the back of morale boosting 1-0 win over the in-form, PSV Eindhoven, at Galgenwaard Stadion on September 16. Although, the Utrecht outfit went one-man down in the second-half, they still managed
to grab the lead through Davy Bulthuis in the 71st minute.
Defending the lead got further difficult for the home side, when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alexander-Gerndt-c4831 made a harsh tackle, and was shown a straight red card that left the hosts with nine men on the pitch to defend in the final 10 minutes of the action.
However, they somehow managed to keep their one-goal lead intact until the full time whistle, and deservingly bagged all three points.
The outfit from Utrecht finished 11th on the league table last season, and have set their sights on finishing at a respectable place this term. They have made a bright start to their 2012/13 campaign, and have an overall
record of 5 played, 2 won, 2 drawn and 1 lost.
The Utreg boss, Jan Wouters, would be hoping that his side continues to stage exciting shows, and keep their hopes alive of finishing in the top five Eredivisie sides at the end of the season.
Head-to-Head statistics
The Utrecht-based club has emerged victorious in two of their last five encounters against De Koempels, while the remaining three matches ended in stalemates.
Players to watch
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sanharib-Malki-c32495 – Roda JC Kerkrade
The Syrian ace had a terrible outing against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AZ-c38571 Alkmaar last week, but he will be keen to help his side in claiming a good result against the Utreg at home on Friday.
Davy Bulthuis – http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Utrecht-c39237
The 22-year-old defender played an integral role in his side’s hard fought 1-0 win over PSV last week. The Dutchman not only provided rock solid defence, he netted the only goal of the game to help his side in claiming all three
points.
Prediction
It will be an intriguing battle between the two sides, as both sides would be gunning to secure maximum points in this encounter.
The Utreg are brimming with confidence following their win over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/PSV-c40281, but Anouar Kali and Alexander Gerndt’s suspension will certainly dent their chances of securing all three points. A hard fought draw seems to be on the cards.
Predicted score-line: Roda JC 1-1 FC Utrecht.
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