AZ's Missed Chances Cost Them in Europa League Opener

Khalid Boulahrouz left the Ziggo Sport studio with the same feeling many AZ supporters had in the away end: this Europa League opener at Sunderland should never have finished 1-0.

AZ carved out enough chances to take something back to Alkmaar. They just didn’t finish. And in Boulahrouz’s eyes, Mexx Meerdink stood right at the heart of that failure.

A huge chance, a tame finish

Ten minutes from time, AZ finally carved Sunderland open. Meerdink found himself with a golden opportunity to level the score, staring at what looked like a certain 1-1. Instead of pulling the trigger, he hesitated. One extra touch. One extra moment of doubt. That was all Robin Roefs needed.

The Sunderland goalkeeper threw out a leg and blocked the shot. The ball should have been buried; instead, it became the defining image of AZ’s night.

“At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz said, visibly annoyed, as he reviewed the striker’s miss and the string of other wasted chances.

“This chance for Meerdink. It is simply hit too tamely, low to the ground. If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net. Theo (Janssen) rightly said: you have to become a killer as a striker. Especially if he wants to get to the Netherlands national team. Then these are the chances in which you can distinguish yourself.”

The former defender didn’t stop there. For him, the problem was as much in Meerdink’s mindset as in his technique.

“Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are no longer quite set yourself. As a result, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a hundred per cent chance,” Boulahrouz snapped. “These are things he really has to cut out. Looking at the whole match, he was simply too sloppy, not good as a focal point... And the chances he got, you have to take them.”

Meerdink: honest, but not harsh enough?

Meerdink did not hide afterwards. He admitted his own shortcomings and acknowledged the key moment that will replay in his head.

“I think at certain moments I still lost the ball a little too easily, but I also had a number of good moments. The point for my development is that I have to keep doing it consistently,” he said.

On the decisive chance, he was brutally clear with himself.

“That ball at the end, I have to smash it in. No thinking, just with the instep. In the box I have to be deadly, become deadly.”

You might think that kind of self-criticism would please the pundits. It didn’t.

Theo Janssen listened to the interview and bristled. The former midfielder heard a player who, in his view, still sounded a touch too satisfied.

“Interesting. He has the feeling he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied,” Janssen remarked. “I would advise him to watch this match back calmly once more, because it comes down to a number of moments in which you have to be deadly as a striker and in which you have to be strong to give your team some calm. Those few moments are not enough, friend.”

Janssen’s tone was ruthless, his message even more so.

“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player. Only he lacks that hunger. You have to do everything for it. He must always give everything for it, and I sometimes miss that a little with him. He has so much potential, but he is not getting everything out of it.”

AZ walk away from Sunderland with nothing on the board and a clear warning ringing in their young striker’s ears: potential no longer buys you time at this level. The next big chance won’t just shape a game – it might decide how quickly Meerdink grows into the killer everyone is demanding he becomes.