It was scrappy, it was messy, but West Ham only saw the beauty. They celebrated wildly when Michail Antonio bundled the ball over the line in the second half, completing a turnaround few people had anticipated, and they could feel the anxiety fading away. The London Stadium had been a tense, moody place for most of the evening and now, with West Ham finally ahead, the home fans could dream of booking their tickets to Prague next month.
Nobody, of course, should make the mistake of thinking that West Ham are already through to the final of the Europa Conference League. They toiled for long spells against AZ Alkmaar, who led through a sloppy goal from Tijani Reijnders, and David Moyes will need his side to be resilient again when they take a 2-1 lead to the Netherlands for next week’s second leg.
The mind drifted back to West Ham conceding inside the first minute when they lost the first leg of their Europa League semi-final to Eintracht Frankfurt last year. They had to take better care of the details this time. They were on a high after their win over Manchester United, the ground bouncing at kick-off, and there was no chance of them allowing AZ to settle into their passing rhythm. Even the slightest hint of dithering from the visitors was taken by West Ham as a chance to press. Nothing summed it up more than Declan Rice pushing Jordy Clasie deeper and deeper down a dead end in the 20th minute, leaving the midfielder with no option but to turn and swipe an aimless clearance back to a claret and blue shirt.
West Ham’s captain was setting the tone and others followed suit. There was tenacity from Saïd Benrahma, the winger snapping into challenges in midfield, and it was not easy for AZ to play their way out. A pattern soon developed: AZ trying to edge through midfield, West Ham repeatedly responding by bumping Pascal Jansen’s players off the ball before looking to use Antonio’s pace on the break.
It felt like West Ham’s game during the early stages. They soon created openings, Rice crossing for Jarrod Bowen to head the first of them over, and Antonio was causing problems. The forward was unsettling AZ’s back four and the breakthrough almost arrived when another run from Antonio made space for Benrahma to whip a shot goalwards, Mat Ryan denying the winger with an outstanding save down to his left.
AZ looked rattled, the defender Mees de Wit receiving a booking for a clumsy foul on Benrahma, and they struggled to hurt West Ham at first. There was one uncomfortable moment when Vangelis Pavlidis almost broke through. Kurt Zouma, back in central defence after Angelo Ogbonna was taken unwell, earned the crowd’s approval with a timely interception.
For all their dominance, though, West Ham needed more quality. Benrahma and Bowen were short of composure on the flanks and Lucas Paquetá had yet to find his range with his through balls.
The frustration for Paquetá rose when he went down after being beaten to a header by Sam Beukema. It looked like a fair challenge from the centre-back and West Ham were too focused on complaining to the Turkish referee, Halil Meler. They were not alive to the danger when AZ broke through Myron van Brederode. Sven Mijnans found Reijnders, West Ham backed off and the midfielder’s shot from 25 yards caught out Alphonse Areola, who let the ball creep inside his near post.
It was not a surprise to hear the home fans lash out at the officials at half-time. Yet there was no reason to disallow the goal. West Ham needed to look closer to home. Where was the pressure on Reijnders? Where had their early spark in attack gone? And why had Moyes brought Areola in for Lukasz Fabianski when most teams resist the urge to rest their No 1 goalkeeper in the big games?
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There was no response from West Ham at the start of the second half. They were anxious. They snatched at passes and overhit crosses. There were howls when Nayef Aguerd hit a long pass straight into Ryan’s gloves.
West Ham were trying to force it and they were allowing AZ’s timewasting to get under their skin. There were ironic cheers when Clasie was booked for taking too long over a free-kick, but the mood was fraught. West Ham lacked nous. Bowen threatened, shooting just wide, but it did not feel particularly encouraging to see a flick from Paquetá go out for a throw.
The comfort for West Ham, though, was that their opponents were not threatening to score again. Midway through the second half they pumped a cross to the far post. Tomas Soucek headed it back and in went Bowen, getting to the ball just before Ryan and then going to ground after he was caught by the goalkeeper’s attempted punch.
It was rash from Ryan. Benrahma buried the penalty and West Ham pushed again. AZ failed to clear a corner and Rice picked up possession on the left. He crossed, Aguerd’s effort was cleared off the line and Antonio forced the rebound in. West Ham were halfway to Prague.
