– I personally think they get a cheap penalty for 3-2, a sour loss where unfortunately it wasn’t enough all the way. We will take this with us anyway, says Simon Hedlund.
When Simon Hedlund folded in and fired home a hard-pressed shot to make it 2-2, a shot that AZ keeper Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro should have saved, it looked like it could be a blowout point.
A quarter of an hour from the end, Ahmed Qasem went in too hard from behind on an AZ player. On the subsequent penalty, the Dutch finished 3-2.
When captain Sebastian Holmén was sent off for hacking down Troy Parrott in a free position and red carded five minutes from time, Elfsborg’s hopes of picking up a point from Alkmaar north of Amsterdam vanished.
– I take with me that we can fight against top teams. It’s small details you get punished for, but it’s just a matter of learning, we stand up well, it was close, says goalkeeper Isak Pettersson to SVT Sport.
It otherwise started well for a spirited Elfsborg.
In the middle of the first half, Elfsborg took the lead in the rain at AFAS Stadium. The Swedish team stuck to the offensive zone and Simon Hedlund poked the ball behind to Timothy Ouma who bombed in 1-0.
Isak Pettersson fumbled at 1-1
However, the team was not allowed to go to the break in the lead. After a great save with his fingertips, goalkeeper Isak Pettersson lost the ball in the attack after and AZ scored 1-1. Fumbling Pettersson protested and said he had been kicked in the hand.
– I lose the ball, a mistake, of course I’m upset about it. It’s on me and it shouldn’t happen again, he says.
At the beginning of the second half, AZ took the lead after a failed clearance from the Elfsborg defence. The ball went to Ruben van Bommel who went straight to 2-1 for his second goal. In the stands, dad Mark, who has a World Cup silver medal with the Netherlands from 2010, snuggled up.
In the tenth minute, Elfsborg shocked the home crowd. After a quick transition, the fast-running Ahmed Qasem pushed the ball into the goal.
However, the goal was disallowed after the VAR review showed that Arber Zeneli was one or a few centimeters on the wrong side in the play-up phase.
