AZ Alkmaar beat Heracles on penalties to set up KNVB Cup final with Go Ahead Eagles

AZ just about booked their spot in the KNVB Cup final on Thursday. The club from Alkmaar beat Heracles Almelo on penalties after the 120 minutes of play had finished 2-2. AZ will face Go Ahead Eagles on Monday, April 21, in the final in De Kuip, Rotterdam. The team from Deventer picked up a surprising 1-2 win against PSV on Wednesday.

Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro, AZ’s goalkeeper, saved penalties from Justin Hoogma and Ivan Mesik and saw Bryan Limbombe hit the post with the last penalty. The home team’s keeper, Fabian de Keijzer, saved a penalty from Troy Parrot and saw Denso Kasius hit his penalty far over.

AZ gave away a lead on two occasions during the match after Ernest Poku and Mayckel Lahdo had gotten their goals. Damon Mirani and Suf Podgoreanu leveled the game for Heracles.

The Alkmaar club now has the chance to win the KNVB Cup for the fifth time in their history. Heracles would have reached their second cup final if they had won, after losing 3-0 to PSV in their solitary final match in 2012.

Fourth-place AZ knocked out FC Groningen, Ajax, and Quick Boys before this match. Heracles, who are 15th, had beaten FC Winterswijk, NEC, De Graafschap, and FC Utrecht on their way to the semi-finals.

AZ were still missing their wingers Ruben van Bommel and Jayden Addai through injury. Ibrahim Sadiq, who is also a winger, was also not fit enough to start. Despite this, it was the wingers who made the difference for AZ before halftime in Almelo. Left winger Lahdo set up the right winger Poku’s goal and also scored the 1-2 in the 27th minute after Mirani had leveled the match with a header.

The Alkmaarders dominated a large part of the first half and saw Peer Koopmeiners hit the post. Jan Zamburek headed the ball onto the post for Heracles in the third minute.

The match was more balanced after halftime. Substitute Mario Engels was close to the equalizer, and Seiya Maikuma failed to convert a chance to make it 1-3.

Substitute Kristijan Belic's failed back pass led to the equalizer after 80 minutes played. Podgoreanu reacted quickly to it and shot the home team to extra time. The biggest chance of extra time fell to Sadiq, but he was also unsuccessful with his finish.