December 1990
Ajax… Fifteen Years Ago
The Dutch Eredivisie is more than three months underway, but
at the top of the table Ajax and PSV won't let each other
escape: PSV have 19 points out of 12 games, Ajax have 18 out of
11. Due to an unusual succession of weekends with no Eredivisie
football (due to domestic cup games, Euro '92 qualifiers and
one cancellation) the Amsterdammers have to kill their time
with some friendly kickabouts in late November.
On Sunday 02 December the Ajax fans are hungry for footie:
17,500 of them come through the turnstiles of De Meer for the
home game against FC Den Haag, the league's surprising #4. This
is a top game! The large travelling support from The Hague
fills two entire sections on the City Side, but the police can
be satisfied: no major incidents. The Ajax players are
even more up for a good game of football than the fans, so it
seems: the red and white play an absolutely fantastic game and
are 3-0 up by half-time, courtesy of Jan Wouters (9'), Stefen
Pettersson (32') and Dennis Bergkamp (37'). The goals are of
great beauty. Ajax's play is fast, dynamic, sassy, simply a joy
to watch. Bergkamp and Pettersson each score another one after
the break: 5-0. When referee Houben blows the final whistle the
team get an ovation. "Feyenoord is next!" the F-Side yells.
Next week Ajax travel to De Kuip for the last Eredivisie
fixture of 1990.
Followers of Dutch football are starting to get used to the
fact that Feyenoord are no longer a top side. Once again teams
such as Groningen and Twente battle for the third slot, whereas
Feyenoord are halfway down the table, seven points behind Ajax
already. Yet, the Classic is always the Classic: De Kuip is
sold-out to the last seat, roaring optimistically, but the fact
is that Feyenoord are afraid of their on-form Amsterdam
rivals.
The Classic of December 1990: an
air duel between Stefan
Pettersson and Henk Fräser. [Photo: Voetbal
International]
Their worst nightmare comes true. Ajax are so painfully
superior in the opening phase that a result for Feyenoord seems
totally out of the question from the start. The visitors play
with their Rotterdam arch-enemies like a cat plays with a
groggy mouse before eating it. Ajax's 17th minute opening goal
is a rather ugly one (shot Bryan Roy, tapped into his own net
by Henk Fräser), but the second one simply brilliant: a
pristine chip over Ed de Goey by Dennis Bergkamp (32'). Just
before half-time John van 't Schip's header seems to go wide,
but Bryan Roy manages to pull the ball back to Jan Wouters
before it crosses the line and the Ajax captain hammers home:
0-3 (45'). "Feyenoord are the laughing stock!" the travelling
Ajax fans sing. "First Division! They're going to the First
Division!" Hundreds, possibly thousands of Feyenoord supporters
can no longer take it and go home.
Eight minutes into the second half Stefan Pettersson gets a
free passage to De Goey. The goalkeeper brings him down and
Bergkamp converts from the penalty spot: 0-4 and 36 long
minutes to go for Feyenoord. Ajax are on their way to a
historic result. The Amsterdammers freewheel, but do it with
nonchalance and therefore fail to score. De Kuip is half-empty
when Jan Wouters' thundering shot hits the underside of the
cross-bar in the dying minutes. Feyenoord 0, Ajax 4. What a
triumph. And what a devastating blow in the face for
Feyenoord.
The winter break is coming very close now. One more game is
on the agenda. Or two games, if we count Holland's
Euro 1992 qualifier at Malta on the 19th. And we might as well,
as seven Ajacieden are called up by Rinus 'The General'
Michels. Before the trip to Malta, First Division outfit
Excelsior come to De Meer for a match in the second round of
the KNVB Cup. The game was supposed to be played at Excelsior's
Woudestein Stadium, but the police and the KNVB concluded that
the tiny, ramshackle ground of Rotterdam's third club didn't
meet the requirements for a so-called 'risk fixture'. The KNVB
then decided that the match must be played at De Meer instead.
On Sunday 16 December Ajax officially play an away game at
their own ground in front of 7,725 spectactors.
Coach Leo Beenhakker decides to rest a few players. Wim
Jonk, Mark Verkuyl (who had a good year last season, but lost
his spot anyway) and young Michel Kreek play from the start.
Ajax play a bit slowly and are poorly concentrated, so that
Excelsior remain upright for 33 minutes. After Stefan
Pettersson's opening goal, however, Ajax quickly do the
business: 0-2 Wim Jonk (43') and, after the break, 0-3 Dennis
Bergkamp (48') and 0-4 Aron Winter (56'). That's it. John van
't Schip fires Ajax's fifth into the netting in the last minute
of the game: 0-5.
The day after the Excelsior cup game Rinus Michels and his
Oranje squad fly to Malta, where Holland face the
ultimate small-timer in their qualifying group at the Ta'Qali
Stadium. A big score is expected and that is exactly what the
Dutch put on the boards. Even though the opposition is of low
quality, the game marks the resurrection of Marco van Basten,
who's struggled in the Dutch team since Euro '88. Against Malta
he nets five times. Ajax's Dennis Bergkamp scores twice and
Aron Winter once. Malta 0, Holland 8. December was a productive
month for Bergkamp: seven goals in four games!
December 1990 was a great month for Ajax anyway: three
matches (including two grudge games against rival sides), three
wins, 14 goals scored, zero conceded. The first half of the
season was quite good. PSV play one more game, at Twente on 23
December, and win by the score of 0-2, so that the Eindhoven
side enter the break with 25 points out of 15 games. Ajax have
22, but have two games in hand to leapfrog PSV by a single
point.
The winter break comes early this year, but the Christmas
turkey will taste fine, as the Ajax treasurer will most
definitely agree: Ajax's appeal against their sentence for tax
fraud is successful. The judge reduces Ajax's administrative
fine of 4.8 million guilders to 0.5 million on 21 December.
After the 'tax affair', the near bankruptcy, the 'bar incident'
and the subsequent UEFA ban of recent seasons, Ajax enter the
winter break of 1990-1991 as the reigning Dutch champions and,
for now, as the team with the best chances of clinching the
shield of 1991. There is bright daylight at the end of the
tunnel. (MP)
Next month:
- Winter break
- Resuming the league at Sparta
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