September 1989
Ajax… Fifteen Years Ago
It's only the second month of the season, but September
already feels like the first 'month of truth': the first top
clash, at PSV, as well as the Austria Vienna games in the UEFA
Cup will make clear how much it really meant, this promising
start of the league that saw Ajax score fifteen goals in
the first four league games.
Both Ajax and PSV played fewer games than the rest of the
Eredivisie, due to the KNVB's permission to play friendly
tournaments in the first weeks of the league. Ajax's
re-scheduled fixture, the last hurdle before the 'big one' in
Eindhoven, is played on 03 September in Enschede. Hosts FC
Twente didn't win a game yet, yet it's always a
tricky road game for Ajax. The start is disastrous:
after less than two minutes Mika Lipponen takes advantage of
erratic defending by Peter Larsson: 1-0.
The first half at Diekman Stadium is Ajax's poorest so far.
The points will have to be grabbed with hard work today, not
by playing beautifully. Bergkamp replaces Witschge. There
is Ajax pressure, but hardly any chances, whereas
Twente are lethal on counter-attacks. It seems over
as Twente get a penalty on the hour, which Pieter Huistra
converts. However, Ajax get back into the game as the Twente
defence fails to clear properly and Pál Fischer hammers
home with a dry volley: 2-1. More than 20 minutes remain, but
Ajax are simply not good enough today to leave Enschede with a
point: 2-1. Same result as last season. PSV, meanwhile, drop a
point at home against FC Den Bosch (1-1), so that next week's
top clash will not exactly be a game between two flawless
sides. Ajax have 6 points out of 5 games, PSV 5 out of 4.
But first there's a midweek Holland friendly against Denmark
in Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium. Five Ajacieden are called up:
regulars Jan Wouters, Aron Winter and John van 't Schip, plus -
their very first caps! - Stanley Menzo and Bryan Roy. The
latter plays the full game, Menzo makes his début in the
second half, replacing Feyenoord's Joop Hiele. Holland is 1-0
up at that point, courtesy of Ronald Koeman. Jan Wouters fires
home to make it 2-0 (56'), but (how bitter for Menzo) Holland
loosen the reins after that, allowing Jan Bartram and PSV's Jan
Heintze to level the score in less than three minutes' time.
Admittedly, the Ajax goalie did not look too good… 2-2
is the final score.
Sunday 10 September. PSV vs Ajax. Philips Stadium is packed
and Leo Beenhakker takes a remarkable decision: Pál
Fischer, who's not much of a dominant player, but did
score in four out of five appearances, is on the bench. The
Ajax coach has chosen for a slightly more defensive formation
than usual, with an extra defensive central midfielder
(Jan Wouters). 'Shadow striker' Ronald de Boer moves forward to
the #9 slot. Wouters and Frank de Boer play in midfield as
young Marciano Vink starts at #3. Left fullback Mark Verkuyl
returns to action after a long period of injury trouble.
Ajax's #1 worry goes by the name of Romario de Souza Faria.
The tiny Brazilian has become a goalscoring phenomenon for PSV.
It's up to Peter Larsson to eliminate him, if that is possible
in the first place. Romario hardly bothers to run or even
touch the ball if he's not in scoring position. He's standing
around aloofly, he's lazy and annoying, but also lethally
dangerous. And he strangles Ajax on his own in the second half.
The game has been in balance for almost an hour as Romario
slips past Larsson and fires home diagonally. Twenty minutes
later he wraps it up in almost identical fashion. Romario 2,
Ajax 0. The optimism of the start of the season has now
evaporated completely. Ajax are 9th on the table. One slot
further down and they're in the bottom half…
Peter Larsson duels with Romario
da Souza Faria, the PSV man
who strangled Ajax single-handedly on 10 September
1989.
The team flies to Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday, determined to
prove that last season's first round elimination by Sporting
Lisbon was an incident. Only 12,000 spectators have come
to the Wiener Stadion, home of Austria Memphis Vienna
(Austrian clubs frequently add the name of their sponsors to
their official names, 'Memphis' in this case). A few
hundred Ajax fans have made the trip.
Danny Blind is still suspended for UEFA competition, due to
his red card in the Cup Winners Cup final of May 1988. Marciano
Vink will replace him, although right fullback is an unusual
position for him. Wouters once again plays in central midfield,
Ronald de Boer moves to the unlikely position of left winger
and Pál Fischer returns to the line-up. The victim
is Bryan Roy, who starts on the bench.
The opening phase makes one thing clear: this opponent is
very, very mediocre. But Ajax have an off-day, playing slowly
and passing so inaccurately that almost every Eredivisie team
would have taken advantage. Against this lot, however, Ajax
dominates throughout and creates several open scoring
chances. Until a tremendously clumsy goal is conceded:
left fullback Degeorgi takes a free kick from a position that
doesn't look dangerous. But he fires at goal directly, totally
surprising Stanley Menzo: 1-0. Beenhakker is outraged at the
sideline, wildly gesturing to his players. The
team's apathy is incredible. In spite of their appalling
performance Ajax create ten, eleven, maybe twelve chances to
equalize, but 1-0 it remains. It still should not be
a problem at home, but what an embarrassing display it
was.
The Amsterdam crowd shows up in large numbers again (18,500)
for the Sunday 17 September home game against RKC, but Ajax's
football of late is hardly worthy of such interest. Beenhakker
tries to find the best tactical solution: Fischer returns to
the bench, Ronald de Boer plays as a striker again, with Jan
Wouters behind him. Once again it's not enough to force the
opponents to their knees. RKC is the surprising #2 so far, but
that doesn't mean that 0-0 at home is a good result for Ajax.
Quite on the contrary. The supporters grumble on their way out,
after another dramatic performance.
John van 't Schip in action
against RKC, 17 September 1989.. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The line-up again undergoes a few changes one week later at
FC Volendam. Peter Larsson and Ronald de Boer are the victims
this time, as Verkuyl and Vink form the heart of Ajax's defence
and Dennis Bergkamp returns to the starting eleven. This time
it seems as if the Ajax engine starts running again:
Dennis Bergkamp, at full speed on a thru-pass, makes it 0-1
(13') and Aron Winter doubles the score with the head on the
half-hour mark. Ajax finally seem on their way to a
comfortable win. But it just isn't meant to be. Volendam's left
winger, Frank Berghuis, brings the hosts back into the game in
the 53rd minute and five minutes later he sets the entire
fisherman's village on fire by curling a corner straight into
the upper ninety. An unbelievable goal. A frustrated Marciano
Vink is sent off for a harsh foul minutes later. The Ajax ten
are actually quite lucky to hold on to a point. The night
before PSV demolished Sparta 9-1. They're breaking
away…
September is developing into a dramatic month. Only a
slot in the second round of the UEFA Cup could make for a happy
ending. De Meer is sold out to the very last seat (24,500) on
Wednesday 27 September, as Danny Blind sits out the last game
of his suspension and Peter Larsson returns to the team.
Bergkamp gets the nod as Frank de Boer is left out. Austria
Vienna have come to Amsterdam to defend. Ajax are in possession
almost constantly, but not too many chances are created.
Luckily, Ajax have a captain who's developing into a
'long-range shooting specialist': Jan Wouters! He storms in
from midfield just before half-time and furiously
rockets the ball into the top corner from 20 yards to
make De Meer erupt: 1-0. The teams are level on aggregate. The
road to the second round is clear!
Unfortunately, Ajax's constrained play continues after that.
There are one or two real chances, but the team's number one
shortcoming manifests itself: they have trouble scoring. De
Meer can prepare for 30 minutes of extra time. Disaster strikes
in the 97th minute, as a treacherously bouncing, but normally
harmless shot bounces off Menzo's chest and Pleva steps up to
tap home for Austria's priceless away goal. This one is
fatal. 23 Minutes remain for Ajax to score twice… A new
European tragedy seems inevitable.
The team attacks desparately (with Ron Willems as an extra
battering-ram), while the atmosphere at De Meer gets
grimmer by the second. The civilized part of the crowd
bows its head in shame as the F-Side aim their ugly yells at
the Austrians: "Nazis! Nazis! Nazis!" Dutch comedian Freek de
Jonge, invited by Ajax as a guest stadium announcer for the
night, adds to the painful situation by joking (in German):
"Phonecall for Mr Waldheim, phonecall for Mr Waldheim! You are
kindly requested to call one Mr Simon Wiesenthal." (Kurt
Waldheim, president of Austria, was accused of Nazi sympathies
during World War Two by famous Nazi 'detective' and prosecutor
Simon Wiesenthal).
Goalkeeper Roland Wohlfahrt, meanwhile, is pelted with
objects from the F-Side section: coins, lighters, food, drink.
He bravely tries to ignore the objects hitting him and focuses
on the game. Austria's defense remains upright. Wohlfahrt
doesn't. 104 Minutes have been played as the tall goalkeeper
suddenly goes down. A piece of iron - three, perhaps four
feet long and apparently torn loose from the fences
- flickers in the artificial light. Austrian defenders
anrgily gesture to the stands behind goal, where outraged
F-Siders have triumphantly climbed the fences. Captain Jan
Wouters picks up the iron bar from the grass. Swiss referee
Bruno Galler takes it from him and resolutely walks off the
pitch. End of game. Enough of this madness.
The
'bar incident': goalkeeper Roland Wohlfahrt is hit by an iron
bar (1), much to the outrage of
his team-mates (2), and carried off (3). Ajax captain Jan
Wouters cleans up the mess. (below).
De Meer is in shock. Chairman Michael van Praag and general
manager Arie van Eijden descend to the catacombs in a feverish
attempt to make the best out of it. They apologize to Wohlfahrt
for what's happened. The enormous extravasation on the
goalkeeper's back tells the story. Referee Galler shows the
Ajax officials the iron bar. Their desperate plea to
please finish the game after a 'cooling down period'
of fifteen minutes dies on their lips. There is no escape from
this one. Ajax are screwed. For this season at the very least -
and almost certainly for much longer. What on earth will happen
now? This is a tragedy. A disaster.
The crowd slinks off in silence. One supporter is still
sitting on the deserted Reynolds Stand, head bowed, eyes
covered by his hands. He's on the front page of many Dutch
newspapers the next morning, right next to the pictures of
Wohlfahrt lying on the grass and Wouters carrying the
projectile with which some idiot, some criminal madman brought
the future of the club (his club…?) in serious
danger. What will the verdict of the UEFA be? A week of fear
has begun. (MP)
Next month:
- The UEFA comes to a verdict…
- The show must go on: Ajax vs Feyenoord
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