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Match Report: Germinal Beerschot 0, Ajax 1
Ajax stronger than 'satellite club' Germinal Beerschot
05 October: Ajax' seems instantly cured once the team
crosses the south border of The Netherlands and enters Belgian
territory. After having beaten Standard Liege in a pre-season
friendly (0-4) and AA Ghent in the UEFA Cup (0-6), the
Amsterdammers were by far the best team in a friendly meeting
with Germinal Beerschot Antwerp, the Belgian First Class side
in which Ajax has taken a 51% stake. Although Ajax dominated
the full ninety minutes, it took a late Wamberto strike to
secure the 0-1 victory for Ajax.
Wamberto's current position in the squad is remarkable. He
was told to find a new club last season and for Co Adriaanse
the Brazilian winger initially was no candidate for a spot in
Ajax-1, or even a place on the bench. But against Heerenveen,
Adriaanse surprisingly lined up Wamberto on the left forward
spot, whereas he had so far chosen for Kevin Bobson as the
number one substitute for Jesper Gronkjær. Wamberto
played fine in Heerenveen, was in the team again in Antwerp -
and became the match winner, firing past goalkeeper Maes after
a frivolous dribble (85).
A late score - too late in fact. Even without Bergd¢lmo
and Gr¢nkjær, and Witschge and Winter kept on the
bench, Ajax displayed a technical superiority which should have
resulted in a goal much earlier. But Ajax' 'Aussie' Jason
Culina and Nigerian talent Pius Ikedia were unlucky with
well-hit shot attempts in the first half. Ikedia played an
excellent game as a right winger, as he was constantly faster
than his opponent and provided numerous good crosses, of which
Nikos Machlas missed the most dangerous one. Former Belgium
striker Cisse Severeyns had missed an early chance for 'GBA'.
Mutavdzic missed GBA's best chance in the second half and Ajax
rookie Hersi should have scored on the other end.
The Dutch league is generally considered of a higher caliber
than Belgium's First Class, but away games like this one are
good achievements and might well help the players to overcome
their stage-fright when playing away from home in the domestic
Eredivisie. Hopefully, the team will realize in time that PSV's
home town Eindhoven is in fact really close to Belgium…
(MP)
GOAL
Referee: Verbist (Belgium)
Attendance: 11,000
Ajax line-up: Grim; Yakubu, Mokoena, Sier; Nieuwenburg,
Culina (63. Hersi), Galásek, Cruz; Ikedia, Machlas (55.
Quansah), Wamberto.
Germinal Beerschot line-up: Maes (52. Knezevic); Van
Zundert, Marionovic, Van Mieghem, Herreman (46. Cooreman);
Haagdoren (70. Kiss), Karagiannis (34. Dhont), Mutavdzic,
Huysmans (70. Snelders); Degryse (57. Demkine), Severeyns (52.
Dagano).
