TELSTAR VS WAALWIJK PREVIEW & PREDICTION
Telstar could just become a dangerous outsider during the last few weeks for management promotion to the Eredivisie. Can the Velsen team win from RKC Waalwijk without their top scorer?
Telstar:
That the team of trainer Mike Snoei will do well this season is one of the biggest surprises of Dutch professional football. The club from Velsen-Zuid has no budget to buy established names, but in one way or another Snoei has succeeded in turning a hungry group of players into a well-running and above all performing whole. Telstar reported early in the season in the top five and then succeeded the team, contrary to expectations, to continue that line. Telstar is now fourth, only eight points behind NEC Nijmegen. Between these two clubs is Fortuna Sittard and because of this, Telstar even has the chance to go for direct promotion, an unprecedented luxury, towards the end of the competition.
Recently, Telstar lost quite surprisingly with 2-3 of Helmond Sport, but a week later the guys from Snoei recovered by winning the same figures from Almere City. Last week, Telstar crossed the swords with Go Ahead Eagles in the Eagle Shack. Given the position in the ranking, this should be an easy game, but the reality is different. Givan Werkhoven quickly put the hosts on a 1-0 lead and that’s why Telstar was chosen to be chasing. Ultimately, the gold cock Andrija Novakovich was able to prevent the defeat by scoring.
The interland period this week also affects Telstar and that is still quite surprising. The biggest loss is the lack of Novakovich. The mercenary made nine goals in his last ten games and that caused him to report to the national selection of the United States this week. Goalkeeper Rody de Boer and Senne Lynen are also absent. They reported this week to respectively Oranje Under 20 and Belgium Under 19.
Van der Maaten – Lopes Cabral, Van Heertum, Van Iperen, Brito – Najah, Van Huizen, Schouten – Sno, Platje, Hamdaoui
RKC Waalwijk:
RKC Waalwijk qualified for the playoffs last season, but this year it all runs a lot less smoothly with the Brabanters. What is called, the team of coach Hans de Koning is currently in nineteenth place and makes average goals per game. Figures for which the average RKC Waalwijk supporter does not get hot and therefore there is work to be done for De Koning. The question now is whether the coach will get his selection this season. There are still five teams within a margin of ten points, but a fifteenth or nineteenth place does not matter much in terms of pay. The Waalwijkers could still go for the last period, but that really requires a miracle. Only six of the thirty games were converted into winnings and that is downright bad. The last ten duels yielded a victory and that shows that RKC Waalwijk is not really doing a final sprint.
Recently it was surprisingly won by Jong PSV 3-2, but that victory seems to have been a self-standing incident. A week later ‘just’ was lost again with 1-0 to RKC Waalwijk and last week the points were shared with MVV Maastricht: 1-1. What is striking is that RKC Waalwijk has trouble finding the net. Most clubs, including those in the lower regions of the ranking, know how to find the net regularly, but that does not apply to RKC Waalwijk. Thirty points were scored. Teams like Go Ahead Eagles (40), Helmond Sport (39), FC Eindhoven (44) and Jong AZ (44) perform better in that respect.
At RKC Waalwijk some new names are expected at the kick-off. This way De Koning can again use the services of Etienne Vaessen and Gigli Ndefe this week. Both players were suspended for the previous game. This time it is Mohamed Mezghrani who has to shoot a duel because of a suspension.
Vaessen – G. Ndefe, Drost, Van Weert, R. Ndefe – Baggerman, Greene, Mulder – Seys, Voskamp, Meulensteen
PREDICTION: Telstar to win @ 1.62
