The AZ Gazette
Market14 Sep 2026
Kees Smit puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AZ, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Carlos Quintero, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
AZ supporters have found a favourite in Carlos Quintero
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlos Quintero has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match12 Sep 2026
AZ find a way past Heerenveen
Heerenveen made AZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mateo Chávez makes it 100
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Ro-Zangelo Daal
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Calvin Stengs stands above it all
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.90 on the card, and the AZ support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Memphis Dumfries kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Carlos Quintero scores his first for AZ
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
In brief
- The dugout Mees de Wit dropped after a run of poor form
- Market The Mexx Meerdink talk will not go away
- Looking ahead Jeroen Zoet goes back to face PSV