Sunderland v AZ Alkmaar: The visitors’ dangermen before Europa League opener | OneFootball

Sunderland host AZ Alkmaar on Wednesday in their first ever Europa League tie, with the visitors aiming to spoil the occasion.

Sunderland Echo notes that Sunderland qualified by finishing seventh in the Premier League. AZ booked their place by beating NEC Nijmegen 5-1 in the KNVB Cup final, for the fifth time.

AZ have pedigree, reaching the 1980/81 UEFA Cup final before losing to Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town. They reached last season’s Europa Conference League quarter-finals, three years after a semi-final run ended 3-1 against eventual winners West Ham.

Ro-Zangelo Daal, 22 and capped three times by the Netherlands, has started superbly. He had a goal and assist in a 4-0 win over PSV as AZ lifted the Johan Cryuff Schaal, then scored in a 2-0 win at ADO Den Haag. He has since added three more in wins over Go Ahead Eagles and Heerenveen.

Wouter Goes, a former Netherlands Under-21 team-mate of keeper Robin Roefs, has made over 130 senior appearances after rising through AZ’s academy. His physical edge has drawn criticism at times.

Kees Smit, 20, is among Europe’s most coveted midfielders, linked with Liverpool and Real Madrid, and already capped by the Netherlands in a friendly win over Norway this year. Praised in the Spanish press and known for creativity and vision, he missed Friday’s game with Willem II due to a minor groin injury and his involvement on Wearside remains uncertain.

Source: Sunderland Echo

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