US forward Jozy Altidore scores twice as AZ Alkmaar wins 3-1 against Heracles in Dutch league

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — United States forward Jozy Altidore scored twice as AZ Alkmaar beat Heracles 3-1 in the Dutch league on Sunday.

Altidore opened the scoring and found the net again for AZ’s third goal in the final minute, helping his team rise to third in the standings.

Ajax won 6-1 at NEC, with Denmark playmaker Christian Eriksen among the scorers. Ajax is second above AZ on goal difference. FC Twente lead with two victories from two matches after winning 1-0 at Breda on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Groningen drew 1-1 at home with Willem II and Den Haag and Waalwijk drew 2-2.

Also Saturday, PSV Eindhoven recorded its first win of the season with a 5-0 home victory over Roda JC, recovering from the previous weekend’s surprise loss to Waalwijk.

Feyenoord drew 1-1 with Herenveen despite having defender Joris Mathijsen sent off on debut in the 77th minute for bringing down Filip Djuricic in the box. Djuricic converted the resulting penalty, but 10-man Feyenoord avoided defeat through Ruben Schaken’s goal six minutes later.

Utrecht came from a goal down to beat VVV 3-1 and Vitesse won 1-0 at Zwolle.

13:33ET 19-08-12