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Antonia and Chery Look to Impress as Hoesen Looks to Score
Posted by Adrian Bucher on August 30th, 2014 05:09 PM | Eredivisie, Opinion
Groningen take on defending champions, Ajax, on Sunday. With the Green-White Army having looked sharp, offensively, a few players will be hoping to cause an upset when they host the Amsterdam outfit.
By Adrian Bucher
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With both sides having suffered heavy defeats in the last round of the Eredivisie, Ajax and Groningen will look to get their domestic campaigns back on track as the two sides lock horns at the Euroborg on Sunday. After three rounds, both sides have registered 2 wins each, making this match all the more important. Though many pundits will no doubt expect Frank de Boer's men to travel back to Amsterdam with all three points, Erwin van de Looi's side have shown much potency in their attacking style of play, and several players will be hoping to extend Ajax's winless streak to two games.
One such player is Jarchinio Antonia. Brought in from ADO Den Haag, the winger has looked particularly impressive in his first outings for Groningen. In the season opener against Go Ahead Eagles, the 23 year-old was instrumental in his side's victory that saw Groningen fight back from 2-0 down to eventually win 2-3, courtesy of Antonia's two assists and goal late on in the match, with many slaloming runs and through-balls made in between.
Tjaronn Chery, scorer of the first of the three goals in the season opener, was also omnipresent in Groningen's second game of the season against Heracles, extending his form from the tail-end of last season that saw the Green-White Army progress to the preliminary rounds of the UEFA Europa League, scoring once in Groningen's 3-1 win.
Though the side from the North of the Netherlands ended up losing to Antonia's former side, ADO Den Haag, last weekend, van de Looi's men were still able to carve out several chances, but were unable to finish them off. One player that will be hoping to break his goalless streak on Sunday against Ajax is Danny Hoesen.
Brought in as a replacement to the outgoing Richario Zivkovic, Groningen's top-scorer last season, the Limburg-native has, so far, only managed a single assist to his name, but has looked increasingly confident on and off the ball since his move from the Amsterdam ArenA, even though he was guilty of missing several golden opportunities to be included in Groningen's list of goal-scorers.
Ajax will , on the other hand, be hoping to put last week's 3-1 defeat to rivals PSV behind them, and are looking to get their title defence back on track as they bid for a fifth consecutive title. However, with top-talent Daley Blind subject to an on-going transfer saga that looks to be nearing its end, if ever there was a time for Groningen to run out as winners against Ajax for the first time in almost three years, this is it.
Adrian Bucher (39 Posts)
Tags: Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, Danny Hoesen, Erwin van de Looi, FC Groningen, Groningen, Jarchinio Antonia, Tjaronn Chery
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