No surprises in Dutch Cup

AZ Alkmaar did as expected to beat amateur side Achilles 29 3-0 and secure a spot in the Dutch Cup quarter finals. NEC, Volendam, Roda JC and NAC are through as well.

Pocognoli put AZ ahead in the 11th minute and although Achilles did cause the Eredivisie leaders some trouble, second-half goals from Dembele and Swerts eventually left the visitors without a chance.

NEC needed to come back from behind to beat Sparta 2-1. Rose put the Rotterdam outfit in the lead after just two minutes but Schöne equalised for NEC in the 36th minute and Van Beukering netted the winner ten minutes after the break.

Volendam left it until late to make a difference against Excelsior. Tuyp finally broke the deadlock on 84 minutes, Platje doubled the lead six minutes later and Van Dijk added a third even further into added time.

Amateur side FC Lienden had already shocked Dutch football by making it to the round of sixteen and almost caused another surprise at Roda JC. However, after a goalless 90 minutes, Roda did score through De Jong and Oper in extra time, 2-0.

NAC and Groningen needed a penalty shootout to decide their clash. Boukhari (NAC) and Levchenko (Groningen) scored in regular time, and Idabdelhay thought to have scored the home side’s winner seven minutes into extra time. However, Granqvist netted for 2-2 eight minutes later.

No less than 18 spot kicks were needed to determine which side was to advance to the next round, with Groningen’s Levchenko missing what could have been the winning penalty. Not much later, his side actually ended up losing the shoot-out.

De Graafschap and SC Heerenveen were already through to the quarter finals. ADO Den Haag and FC Twente battle for the remaining ticket on Thursday.