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Match Report: Vitesse 3, Ajax 2
Fighting spirit not enough to prevent third defeat
15 October: If at the beginning of this competition one would
have guessed where Ajax probablly could lose some points, an
away game in Arnhem would have been somewhere on top of that
list.
Vitesse is famous for the big amount of points they gather
when they play at home and with Ronald Koeman as a coach,
Vitesse made big improvements last year. Nevertheless Ajax
should be very unhappy with the defeat they eventually suffered
this Sunday. In an extremely exciting game Ajax threw away a
1-2 lead and ended the game with a 3-2 defeat and therefore for
the third time this year already with again no points.
It would be too easy to dismiss this as just another case of
"away game trauma". It's true, Ajax lost another away game and
the 28th of november is coming much closer. If Ajax won't be
able to win an away game before that date, they haven't won one
for an entire year! But this time the term bad luck will be a
better term to characterize the defeat.
Ajax played a reasonably good game, created good chances and
was close to a victory. But at the end of the game two dead
play situations broke the defense of Ajax. First there was a
marvellous free kick by talented Vitesse player Janssen and 10
minutes before time, Amoah scored from a corner.
Before those two goals Ajax was leading with 1-2. After an
early goal by Vitesse in the 7th minute Ajax had recaptured
themselves superbly. First it was Machlas who equalized against
his former club. Then there was a magnificent counter attack
with Machlas again and Wamberto who put Van der Gun in scoring
position. But he got tackled by Vitesse goal keeper Zoetebier,
so Ajax had to score the second goal from the penalty spot.
Most surprisingly it was Chivu who took the penalty. But it
was even more surprising that he was on the pitch at all, since
he had broken his nose in a match with the Rumanian team a few
days ago. Fortunately for Ajax he didn't lose his good nose for
goals, scoring already his second of the season. A total of
which an average defender will need his entire career to
produce.
Early in the game Ajax could have got already a penalty when
17-year old Van der Vaart got tackled in the penalty area. And
just after the penalty from Chivu Ajax should have got another
one. Again Van der Gun was thrown to the gras. But both times
referee Jol didn't think it was extreme enough for an 11 meters
kick.
Instead of a probably decisive 1-3 lead, Vitesse fiercely
went for the equalizer. And for more. Vitesse striker Bob
Peeters got three big chances in a few minutes time, but at
those times the Ajax defense stood his ground.
The 2-2 by Janssen would have been a nice and fair result,
but Vitesse made it worse in the end.
Ajax showed a great fighting spirit this match, but again
returned homewards empty handed and therefore couldn't take
advantage of the slip PSV made against NEC (0-0) the day
before. Co Adriaanse mentioned the fighting spirit of his team,
but also thought that the defeat was deserved: 'Too many things
go wrong with Ajax. The only positive thing is that they worked
very hard.
But people in a factory do that too. I'm hired to make Ajax
a top team again. That isn't possible in three months, not even
in a year. We still have to make a lot of decisions with Ajax
to make it a top club again.' (BV)
Goals:
- 1-0 Sikora (7')
- 1-1 Machlas (35')
- 1-2 Chivu (pen.) (55')
- 2-2 Janssen (62')
- 3-2 Amoah (78')
Referee: Jol
Bookings: Zoetebier, Amoah, Vierklau, Janssen,
v.d.Schaaf (Vitesse)
Attendance: 27.500
Ajax line-up: Grim, Chivu, Bergdolmo, Pasanen,
Vierklau, Van der Vaart, Galasek, Winter, Van der Gun
(Gronkjaer 77'), Machlas (Ikedia 69'), Wamberto (Cruz 77')
Vitesse line-up: Zoetebier, Cornelisse, Kreek,
Stefanovic, Van Hintum, Martel (Fortes 69'), Janssen, Diarra
(Van der Schaaf 46'), Sikora (Van de Brom 80'), Peeters,
Amoah
(Statistics source: ajax.nl)
