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Match Report: Haughty Ajax loses hugely important points in Sittard

Sometimes you simply don't understand the mind of a football player. Imagine: you're four points ahead of Feyenoord, with the opportunity to make that seven. No league title won since 1998. If you're not determined in this stage of the competition, when will you ever be? A haughtily playing Ajax team disgraced itself and let down its fans on Wednesday, leaving two points behind in Sittard.

"This is a major disappointment", said coach Ronald Koeman. "You're always afraid the team will lack concentration on days like this. Everybody's talking about Feyenoord and PSV already. You try to focus on this game, hoping that the players will do something with it. I've already told them before, although it's a cliché: you win the championship in games like this one."

There were more than enough warnings for Ajax. Recently, PSV and Feyenoord had problems securing a 1-0 victory over the Eredivisie's #18. And in the first minutes of the game, Landerl and Hamming got major scoring chances. Ajax was apparently too blind, inept or unprofessional to take those warnings seriously. Koeman's team was lucky that Fred Grim was in good form.

The 37 year-old goalkeeper has recovered from the flu and took over from Joey Didulica. It was not the only change in the line-up: Maxwell played at left back instead of suspended Tim de Cler, Nikos Machlas was given the nod instead of Zlatan, whereas Wamberto returned into the team, keeping Mido benched. The biggest surprise: Steven Pienaar, who made his Eredivisie debut last week in Breda, started in the team for the first time.

Typically, Ajax built its first decent attack after some 30 minutes. From that point, the Amsterdammers were dominant, but had trouble creating chances. The best one was for Andy van der Meyde, who managed to rush all the way through Fortuna's defense, but failed to convert. Regillio Simons, on the other hand, got the best chance of the first half in the 42nd minute, coming face-to-face with Grim, who saved superbly. It marked the end of a first half that should be taken as a serious warning.

Ajax didn't take it that way. Only seven minutes into the second half, the team finally conceded the goal it had been asking for all night, as a fast counter-attack across the pitch was calmly finished off by Ronald Hamming: 1-0 (52). And of course: all of a sudden, Ajax started putting Fortuna under pressure. The determination suddenly displayed only underscored that it simply hadn't been there before. Simply scandalous, at this point in the season.

Ajax equalized soon enough: Wamberto was launched through the center and pushed the ball under Hesp (59). However, the team immediately fell asleep again. Koeman replaced a defender (John O'Brien, once again playing at right back in default of Ferdi Vierklau) by a striker (Mido) and would bring on two more strikers (Zlatan and Cedric van der Gun) later.

As usual, the central forward of choice (Machlas) hardly did anything right. And as usual, the central forwards subbed in (Zlatan and Mido) did significantly better. The Swede came closest to putting Ajax in the lead, by beautifully turning away from his defender, slipping past two more and releasing a mean shot towards the low corner. Ruud Hesp got his fingertips against it.

Hesp annoyed the travelling Ajax fans by shamelessly taking his time for every goal kick, but in fact only one party deserved blame: league-leader Ajax, guilty of an embarrassing non-performance against the team that's eleven points behind the #17 and scored - on average - less than one goal per game so far.

A win would have given Ajax a seven point lead. In that case, it would have been impossible for Feyenoord to leapfrog Ajax, even in case of a win in the Amsterdam ArenA. This night in Sittard was a beautiful and hugely important opportunity to take a giant lep in the direction of the first league title since 1998. It makes Ajax' failure incomprehensible and unforgivable.

A team losing four points in total at AZ and Fortuna in this crucial stage of the competition does not deserve the championship - you'd say. On the other hand: does a team that loses at home against FC Twente deserve it? Or a team that has lost even more points against minor opponents?

In this season's Eredivisie, all you can do with the 'Classic' coming up, is shrug shoulders and say: let's just see what happens. (MP)

Goals:

• 52' 1-0 Ronald Hamming
• 59' 1-1 Wamberto

Referee: Schenkels
Yellow cards: Van den Hoeven, Simons (Fortuna Sittard), O'Brien (Ajax)
Attendance: 8,875

Ajax line-up: Grim; O'Brien (56. Mido), Chivu, Bergdølmo, Maxwell; Galásek, Pienaar (71. Zlatan), Van Halst; Van der Meyde (76. Van der Gun), Machlas, Wamberto.

Fortuna Sittard line-up: Hesp; Emeran, Akerboom, Volmer (51. Rook), Hermans; Van den Hoeven, Haeldermans, Landerl; Gerritsen (66. Heering), Simons, Hamming (81. Cramb).

Related Links:

• Discussion: Ajax current form
• Ajax.nl: Match Report (in Dutch, with pictures)