WAALWIJK VS ALMERE CITY PREVIEW & PREDICTION
For RKC Waalwijk the season is already as good as over. Almere City is now in the process of destroying the latest opportunities at a rapid pace. The Flevolanders are dealing with an unprecedented form dip.
RKC Waalwijk:
RKC Waalwijk is one of the worst performing teams in Dutch professional football this season. Trainer Peter van den Berg was sent away just before the turn of the year and it has become clear that replacement Hans de Koning will not get the team to play football either. De Brabanders string the disappointing results together and that has resulted in only Jong FC Utrecht still among the Waalwijkers in the rankings. Number eighteen Helmond Sport is even six points above RKC and that shows that the current position of the men of De Koning is quite desolate. There is no real point of improvement. Only one of the last twelve matches was won. The King will now have to find a way to motivate his players, because a real goal is no longer there.
It is also striking that RKC took only three goals in the last four games, but that this resulted in only two points. This has everything to do with the lack of impact in the attack. De Waalwijkers even produced only a goal in that series of four matches. On Friday night, RKC’s attackers failed again in the match against De Graafschap to find the net. The defense did not give much away, but by the end of the game in Doetinchem it was still going wrong. Tarik Tissoudali made the only goal of the evening in the 79th minute.
The King will probably make some changes before meeting with Almere City. Nikke Baggerman collected his fifth yellow card of the season against De Graafschap and he is automatically suspended for a game. Johan Voskamp got a rest on Friday and sat on the bench for ninety minutes. His absence offered Roland Bergkamp a new chance to show his qualities, but Monday evening the roles are probably reversed again.
Almere City:
Almere City rambled against the top five of the Jupiler League not so long ago and therefore it seemed only a matter of time before the ticket for the playoffs was received. With only six games to play, the world is suddenly looking a lot rosy for the Flevolanders. The formation of trainer Jack de Gier seems to have lost the game and that resulted in a free fall in the rankings. Of the last ten games, Almere City lost eight and that is simply too much when a ticket for the playoffs is the goal. In mid-February, Go Ahead Eagles was won, but after that victory, six losses and a draw followed. Almere City is now fourteenth and is still in the race for the nacompetition as the difference with the top ten is only three points, but the lack of form threatens the team to break up now.
On Friday evening, it turned out that there is still room for progress at Almere City. The Flevolanders had the home advantage in the match against champion candidate Fortuna Sittard, but that did not seem to bother the visitors. The Limburg players shot out of the starting blocks, while Almere City was extremely weak. After six minutes of football, André Vidigal had already scored twice and after 35 minutes there was already a decisive 0-4 score on the board. Just after half-time Calvin Mac-Intosch was able to find the net, but it was already too late. Fortuna Sittard defended the lead of three goals easily. The match against RKC Waalwijk now seems to offer Almere City a nice opportunity to say goodbye to the bad form, but then there really needs to be better football.
Kees van Buuren, who did not play his best match on Friday, to say the least, collected his fifth yellow card of the season against Fortuna Sittard, which meant he would have to resign from a match. Josef Kvida, who returned last week with an injury from the Young Czech Republic, is also not expected in action.
PREDICTION: Over 2.5 goals @ 1.46
