What exactly do we know about Alkmaar? Cheese, the old city, cheese, the beer museum and more cheese. The provence in northern Holland is home to 94,000 inhabitants and aside from a tradition in cheese production, these days the town has also some top level football on offer. The greatest successes of the club, which was founded in 1967 from the clubs Alkmaar and Zaanstreek, may seem like ancient history now ( Dutch champions 1981, Dutch cup winners 1978, 1981 and 1982), but trainer Louis van Gaal has pieced a team together who are now sitting in second place in the Dutch Ehrendivision and beginning to make the rest of the European football community sit up and take notice.
Two years ago Alkmaar managed to cause something of a stir in the UEFA Cup. With just one defeat in twelve games, Alkmaar marched through to the semi-finals of the competition leaving teams such as AJ Auxerre, Glasgow Rangers, Alemannia Aachen and Schachtjor Donezk trailing in their wake. The end of the road came then against Sporting Lisbon. The Dutch side came back from a 1:2 deficit in the first leg to even things out and force the match into extra time, during which the Dutch side even took a 3:1 lead. A Sporting goal in the 120th minute made the tie 3:2 and dashed the Alkmaar dreams of reaching the final on the away goals rule. AZ had more success in 1981. Back then they lost out over two legs to English club Ipswich Town (0:3, 4:2).
In the 2006/2007 qualifying round, Alkmaar eliminated Turkish representatives Kayserispor (3:2, 1:1). The Dutch side then came into their own during the group stage, finishing top ahead of title holders FC Sevilla – even winning 2:1 in Spain. At the first knock-out stage, Alkmaar again had to face a Turkish side, this time in the form of Fenerbahce Istanbul and thanks to the away goals rule progressed after a 3:3 draw in Turkey and a 2:2 home draw, a game during which the Turks had gone two goals up only to let their advantage slip. Having made the last 16, AZ then had to deal with losing their first leg game against Newcastle United 4:2 in England but amazingly bounced back at home to get the 2:0 win they needed to stay in the tournament.
There are no star names to speak of in the AZ Alkmaar squad. The team functions more effectively as a group and have proven phenomenally strong at home despite playing in the modest 17,000 seater DSB Stadium. If individuals were to be selected from the side then Georgian 34 year old veteran Shota Arveladze as well as his strike partner, and newly nominated Dutch international, Danny Koevermans would both be worth a mention. Both managed to find the net in each of the games against Newcastle. Koevermans has developed the status of something of a surprise package. 19 goals in the Dutch first division speak for themselves. There is also a German player in the squad, ex-Schalke man Simon Cziommer.
AZ Alkmaar made a stunning start to this seasons Ehrendivision, beating NAC Breda 8:1 before going on to win nine of their first twelve outings. Now in second place, AZ find themselves eight points adrift of leaders PSV Eindhoven and level on points with Ajax Amsterdam. Six home draws may be the reason for Alkmaar not being in an even stronger position but they are the leagues best away side.
Johnnie Muldoon