February 1991
Ajax… Fifteen Years Ago
The most exciting Eredivisie season in many years
continues… On Sunday 03 February Ajax travel to the
self-proclaimed 'Ajax of the South', Tilburg's Willem II, while
a tough afternoon is expected for PSV. They play away at
Utrecht, who - after years of disappointment - are finally
having a good season again.
Ajax are three points behind PSV, but have two games in hand
to move to the top of the table. In Tilburg, however, it goes
wrong for Ajax. The hosts take an early lead (former Ajax man
Martin van Geel scores from the penalty spot) and
lightning-quick American Ernie Stewart doubles the score in the
28th minute: 2-0. Ajax, playing with Jonk and Bergkamp
in the starting eleven, and young Michel Kreek on the left wing
instead of Bryan Roy, come back into the game thanks to
Bergkamp (70'), but in the 84th minute Ernie Stewart is once
again faster than the Ajax defense: 3-1. Stefan Pettersson's
87th minute goal comes too late. Ajax's very first Eredivisie
defeat of the 1990-1991 season is a fact.
What a shame, especially because PSV drop a point in Utrecht
(1-1). They now have 29 points out of 18 games. Ajax have 25
out of 16.
The rest of the month of February is remarkably quiet, as
King Winter has no mercy on The Netherlands: he covers the
country in ice and a thick layer of snow. Up north, in
Friesland, people get excited: will there be an edition of the
famous 'Eleven City' ice-skating tour? One thing is for sure:
there is no Eredivisie football. Ajax's home game against
Fortuna Sittard (17 February) has to be called off. There is no
other option than to add a friendly fixture to the agenda: a 17
February kickabout against First Division outfit Telstar (at
the home ground of their rivals, FC Haarlem) is won by the
score of 2-0.
One week later, Twente vs Ajax also gets cancelled, after
which Ajax accept an invitation for a friendly in Spain,
against a special squad of players from the Valencia area. Ajax
win again: 0-1.
On Wednesday 27 February the pitch of Roda's Kaalheide
Stadium is good enough for a match in the fourth round of the
KNVB Cup. Sonny Silooy, who last saw action in November and
then picked up an injury again, returns to the first team as a
right midfielder. Bryan Roy is also back in the starting
line-up. But playing on an icy pitch is not Ajax's specialty.
Roda are smarter, play opportunistically and knock Ajax out of
the cup: René Hofman scores the only goal of the game in
the 62nd minute.
February was a frustrating month for Ajax: two games, two
defeats and two cancellations, so that the Eredivisie table
became even more chaotic than it already was. Ajax and PSV
dropped the same number of points (seven), but Ajax are
constantly a few games behind, so that it feels like they have
to chase their Eindhoven rivals. March will be a tough month
for Ajax: games against the #2 (Groningen), #4 (Utrecht) and #5
lie ahead. The spectacularly exciting league of 1990-1991 is
about to pull into the decisive phase… (MP)
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