Ricardo Pepi scored the Dutch champ’s game-winner, while a handful of other Yanks in the Netherlands collected substantial minutes during the second week of the new Ere and Eerste Divisies seasons.
Excelsior 1 -2 PSV
PSV earned its first win of the 2026–27 Eredivisie season, after sharing the points in last weekend’s season opener against Sittard with the game finishing 2-2. This time however, they beat Excelsior 2–1 on Saturday.
Ruben van Bommel put PSV ahead early after just five minutes and the visitor’s managed to hold onto the lead as the half time whistle blew.
Nine minutes after the re-start however, Excelsior equalized through Casper Widell’s goal, but it only took a couple of minutes for PSV to regain the lead with a goal created and scored by PSV’s American Connection.
Sergino Dest delivered a perfect cross into the box and Ricardo Pepi buried it into the back of the hosts’ net in the 56th minute. The 23-year-old Texan had a total of five shots, of which two were on target and one was saved by the near post. The one that went in however, turned out to be the decisive goal that earned his team all the points.
Next time out they’ll be hosting Groningen.
Heracles 3 – 2 Den Bosch
Both Americans started for Den Bosch with Jack de Vries putting in a 70-minute shift for the Blue and White Dragons, while Devon De Corte played for 78 in this heartbreaker in Almelo on Friday night.
The hosts controlled the first half and went into the dressing room at the intermission a goal to the good. But back on the field, Den Bosch soon equalized through Sebastian Karlsson Grach, before the Dutch side with the Greek name again took the lead. Karlsson Grach was having none of it and stuck again in the 87th minute for what looked like a point on the road. Before they could stop feeling good about themselves however, just a minute later, Heracles regained the lead and would not let it get away this time.
The two Yanks are winless after two Eerste Divisie matches but will hope for third time lucky when they host Eindhoven FC.
Notes
Utrecht got spanked at home by a 4-1 score line by AZ Alkmaar in a game where Kevin Paredes came off the bench to play 35 minutes and had a solid performance despite the rest of the team’s terrible performance.
Jalen Hawkins missed out on ADO Den Haag’s game against Groningen due to a hamstring injury. The visitors won this one, four goals to one. After two games, ADO have yet to collect a point.
FC Twente’s Taylor Booth was also not in the line-up with an injury of his own. Twente came away 3-1 winners at home against Zwolle.
