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Match Report: No-frill victory over Sporting Farense


Sporting Farense 0 (0)		Ajax 2 (0)
Sao Luis Stadium, Faro, Portugal Tuesday, 15 January, 2002

The shining cup that was handed to Ajax captain Cristian Chivu after the game almost made you believe that Ajax had just booked an enormously important victory. This was, of course, not the case. The game against Sporting Farense, 16th and fighting against relegation in the highest Portugese division, was just a friendly, the second after Saturday's game at FC Volendam, and the first during a week-long training camp in Faro, southern Portugal. Ajax won with no frills: 0-2.

It was a poor game, in Faro's Sao Luis Stadium. Apparently, only a few moments were worth mentioning in the Ajax.nl report of the game, which was not televised by any Dutch network. Andy van der Meyde got into shooting position in the 11th minute, but fired inches wide, into the side-net. A header opportunity for Farense's Sousa was welcomed as the most exciting moment of the first half by the approximately 1,000 spectators.

Jan van Halst, Ajax' prodigal son, reportedly was the Amsterdammers' best player on the night. [source: Louis van de Vuurst/Ajax.nl]

More interesting than those moments, however, was Ajax' starting line-up. Ronald Koeman, who brought Young Ajax captain Walker and South-African striker Steven Pienaar along to Portugal, is trying to find the perfectly balanced team line-up with which to start the season's second half.

Young Ajax goalie Maarten Stekelenburg was offered some playing time, while Joey Didulica remained on the bench. Ajax' prodigal son, Jan van Halst, was in the starting line-up at right midfield and was the best Ajacied on the night, according to Ajax.nl. He provided his team-mates with numerous useful thru-passes. Koeman seems to be in favour of a Van Halst-Van der Vaart-O'Brien midfield, keeping Tomás Galásek on the bench.

In defense, Johnny Heitinga seems to be another player who has made a good impression on the new Ajax head coach. Koeman keeps lining him up as a right defender, even though Ferdi Vierklau is available again. Chivu, Bergdølmo and De Cler do not have to worry about their positions, so it seems. Neither do wingers Andy van der Meyde and Wamberto. However, it was surprising that Koeman chose for Zlatan as a central forward. Koeman seems to have faith in the precarious Swede.

Grim (still injured), Van der Gun, Vierklau, Pasanen and Yakubu watched the game from the stands. The first half must have been a boring spectacle for them, and things hardly improved in the second half, in which Van der Vaart, playing as a 'number ten' in central midfield, was replaced by Richard Knopper. Jan van Halst had to call it quits at half-time; he over-stretched a muscle in his thigh, apparently a minor injury. "I have not played in a long time and the training sessions are pretty tough. But I don't know whether that's the reason for this injury."

Van Halst was replaced by Galásek, who got to play 45 minutes of football on his 29th birthday after all. "I'm always having my birthday in some training camp abroad," Galásek said after the game. "Last year we were in Qatar; that was fun."

Chivu smiles with irony, holding an impressive cup, relic of an unimpressive victory in an unimportant game. [source: Louis van de Vuurst/Ajax.nl]

Sporting Farense, in the meantime, had replaced no less than seven players at the half-time break. The club's top scorer, Paolo Ferreira, remained benched until the 72th minute. By the time he entered the pitch, Ajax had - finally - taken the lead. Good work by Zlatan allowed Richard Knopper to calmly shoot the ball under goalkeeper Rui Marcos: 0-1 (60). Defender Wanner doubled the score for Ajax, pushing the ball past his own goalkeeper, while he was chased by Wamberto (88).

A second friendly game in the Portugese region of Algarve will be played on Friday. In Sao Luis Stadium, German Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg will be the opponent. (MP)

(Source: Ajax.nl)

GOALS

60' 0-1 Richard Knopper
88' 0-2 Wanner (own goal)

Referee: (unknown)
Attendance: 1,000

Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga, Bergdølmo, Chivu, De Cler; Van Halst (46. Galásek), Van der Vaart (46. Knopper), O'Brien; Van der Meyde (61. Pienaar), Zlatan, Wamberto.

Sporting Farense line-up: Mijanovic (46. Rui Marcos); Sousa (46. Hogo Gomes), Wanner, Porto (46. Carlos Costa), Fernandes (46. Costa), Sabugo (46. Emerson), Caniggia, Nabor, Paulo Ferreira (46. Djurdjevic), Cavaco (81. Teixeira), Patrick (46. Gaspard Komol [72. Ferreira]).