Mijnans was jumping in front of TV in Semi -Final AZ: ‘Images not public’

In the dressing room of AZ, this statement hangs on the wall: “I think everyone in our team thinks we are the favorite.” That sentence does not come from Jordy Clasie, not from Bruno Martins Indi, but from Go Ahead taste maker Oliver Antman.

Sven Mijnans can laugh about it. Indeed, he admits in the Autovantra Football Podcast: “Go Ahead is comfortable. But I think it’s an open battle.”

Today at 6 p.m. AZ and Go Ahead Eagles face each other in the cup final in De Kuip.

A lot depends on both teams. Go Ahead was once in the cup final, in 1965, AZ won the cup four times, last in 2013.

The teams did not receive their final place this year. The team from Deventer defeated national champion PSV in the semi -finals, the team from Alkmaar previously settled in the cup tournament with leader Ajax and defeated Heracles in the semi -final after a penalty thriller.

Look below how John van den Brom and Ricardo van Rhijn look back on the last cup final of AZ in 2018:

The 25-year-old midfielder Mijnans was forced to look at that semi-final at home with Ruben van Bommel, who, just like him, was injured. “Ruben and I both stood in front of the TV at the penalty shootout, my girlfriend filmed us when Bryan Limbombe shot the last penalty on the bar. We were extremely relieved.”

Are those images public? “No,” says Mijnans with a smile. “And that won’t happen either …”

AZ has a changeable season. The team of Maarten Martens had a difficult start, then turned well, and has been performing changeable lately.

In the Eredivisie, they lost twice in the last five games and played three times. The Alkmaarders are now in six, two places under a place that guarantees a ticket for European football.

Will this be the competition that AZ will make or break? “There will be some extra pressure. If you win, you will have European football next year, because in the competition it will be a difficult story,” says Mijnans at the training complex in Wijdewormer. The confidence is certain: “We have a selection that is super greeting to retrieve a price.”

In addition to being eager, the selection is also considerably defeated. Central defender Alexandre Penetra is suspended. There are several injuries, including the 33-year-old captain Jordy Clasie who does everything to be fit on time.

Mijnans: “We try to insist that we have a lot of talented guys. But as you leave more and more points and there is more and more criticism, you start to think: it was nice that there was some experience in the team in every line.”

Clasie in particular is a playmaker and a leader for the young guard. What makes playing with him so much better? “We have all seen that Clasie has been great all year round. That is just the case. People even say that he is the best player of the Eredivisie at the moment.”

As great qualities, Mijnans mentions clasies on the ball and the game rhythm that he creates in the game. “He has so much experience. Young boys respond well to that.”

Those young boys on whom Mijnans refers to AZ from the youth academy. With, among others, Ernest Poku and Mexx Meerdink, among others, became the first Dutch club ever the winner of the UEFA Youth League. What are these for boys?

“Guests with a lot of talent, really a lot of potential,” says Mijnans. “But at the same time guys you sometimes have to grab.”

Mijnans has never completed a professional youth education himself. He grew up as a child of amateur club Spijkenisse. “I sometimes feel that too much is being pampered with professional training. It is: just find it out.”

In any case, Mijnans had to do that. He moved to ADO Den Haag at the age of sixteen, but soon returned.

“At Spijkenisse I played with older boys of thirty at the age of seventeen. They had played at a high level and ended up again at an amateur club. You put all that experience with them all in your backpack at such a young age. I notice that I am developed in that.”