Feyenoord 1-1 SC Heerenveen
In their second game of the 2014/15 Eredivisie season, SC Heerenveen took a trip to Stadion Feijenoord to face league giants Feyenoord. Both teams lined up in a 4-3-3 formation which was predicted by many. Feyenoord were missing Jordy Clasie through a hamstring injury and gave a start to Mitchell te Vrede after his last minute winner against Den Haag last week. Feyenoord dominated the game, and were unlucky not to take all 3 points.
Feyenoord created a high number of chances, and had 20 shots in total. They were very effective at creating chances from the flanks, and this was twinned with winning most of their aerial duels when balls were delivered into the Heerenveen box. Heerenveen had an impressive number of attempts (18) due to their limited time on the ball. They seemed to prefer to attack through the middle with through balls, which opposed Feyenoord’s bombardment of crosses. Stefano Marzo and Kristoffer Nordfeldt particularly impressed for Heerenveen, as they helped their side retain a point away from home.
The first half was rather uneventful, but Heerenveen looked slightly better going into the half time break. Despite this, Vilhena and Basacikoglu made tough work for Nordfeldt, forcing him to pull off some vital saves. In the opening section of the game, Heerenveen’s finishing was sloppy and they will be disappointed not to have been in the lead going into the second half. The only yellow card of the first half was handed out to Joey van den Berg, who will also feel annoyed not to have been on the score sheet tonight.
In terms of excitement, the second half displayed nothing until the 60th minute of the game. Joey van der Berg received his second yellow card after a late challenge, making him the second player in two games to be sent off against Feyenoord. Despite this, Heerenveen were first to strike, after a beautifully curled Ziyech costless kick hit the back of Erwin Mulder’s net in the 68th minute. The task from then on was simple for Heerenveen – hold on to their precious lead. Unfortunately for the visiting team, the lead only lasted a few minutes. Lex Immers seemed to have scored in the 70th minute after a header flew into Nordfeldt’s net after a Tonny Vilhena cross. However, after viewing the footage again, it highlighted that te Vrede got the final touch. Despite knowing very little about his goal tonight, it’s his second goal in as many games this season. Feyenoord continued to hurl cross after cross into the Herenveen box, forcing some miraculous and acrobatic saves out of Kristoffer Nordfeldt. Heerenveen played for the point, but were also not afraid to utilise their ability to conduct a fast paced counter attack against the run of play.
Feyenoord will be disappointed not to take all 3 points from tonight’s game, especially after van den Berg’s dismissal. Heerenveen have done themselves proud by taking a well earned point from the Eredvisie runners-up, and they have Stefano Marzo and Kristoffer Nordfeldt to thank for that.