Feyenoord Falls to Westerlo in Friendly as Van Persie Jr Shines
Behind closed doors and far from the noise of De Kuip, Feyenoord’s reserves slipped to a 2-1 defeat against KVC Westerlo on Monday, despite another eye-catching moment from Shaqueel van Persie.
The young striker, son of club legend Robin van Persie, opened the scoring and briefly lit up an otherwise subdued afternoon. He reacted quickest to a Sem Steijn corner, attacking the ball and finishing decisively to give the Rotterdam side the lead.
That early breakthrough should have settled Feyenoord. Instead, it woke Westerlo up.
The Belgian side grew into the game, found their equaliser before the interval and then wrestled control after the restart. The friendly may have been low-key in setting, but Feyenoord’s looseness without the ball was anything but encouraging.
This was a run-out for those who had started on the bench in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Go Ahead Eagles. With Giovanni van Bronckhorst stepping back from touchline duties for this one, assistants Sipke Hulshoff and Saïd Bakkati handled instructions from the technical area, using the match to hand minutes to squad players and fringe options.
The pattern changed little after the break, even as the faces did. Casper Tengstedt and Jivayno Zinhagel replaced Van Persie and Jordan Lotomba, while an hour in, Luka Ivanusec came on for Gonçalo Borges on the right flank, offering fresh legs and a different profile out wide.
Feyenoord chased the game late on. Tengstedt, in particular, had two clear sights of goal as the clock ticked down, twice finding space, twice unable to drag his side level. Westerlo held firm, and the Dutch visitors walked off with a narrow defeat and a few more questions than answers.
The result itself will not define their season, but the timing is awkward. Feyenoord have already dropped costly Eredivisie points in the 2-2 draw with Go Ahead Eagles, and now attention swings back sharply to the Vriendenloterij Eredivisie.
Next up is a trip to promoted SC Cambuur on Sunday, a side still searching for their first point after two rounds. For Feyenoord, anything less than a convincing response in Leeuwarden will only sharpen the scrutiny.
