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Match Report: 180 more minutes of pressure

With the least difference possible, Ajax beat FC Utrecht this Sunday, adding another three points to their league-leading total. And that's the only thing that seems to matter at the moment. Nobody in Amsterdam complained about the weak second half, and nobody cares that the typical 4-3-3 system has been set aside in this stage of the season.

The club and its supporters are yearning for the end of the competition, and they want to be number one when it's all over. Two more hurdles to go; 180 more minutes of pressure.

And pressure is what the players are feeling at the moment. Mido, after yesterday's match: "The people expect us to become champion, and a championship is what we need. That pressure is pretty heavy." It was probably this pressure that made Ajax play a weaker second half against Utrecht. Ajax were far the better team in the first half, but they let Utrecht back in the match after half time.

And according to Koeman, it was understandable: "If you aren't able to decide the match you are torn between two ideas: either to keep the lead, or try to score another one. Today, experience was lacking to control the match 'till the end." Koeman said that Ajax had been lucky to win the match in the end, but also stated that the victory was a deserved one, looking at the first half.

That's true, because indeed Ajax played an impressive first half in which they did everything right except scoring enough goals. Galásek and Van Halst ruled on the midfield, Trabelsi and O'Brien played a rather attacking style for fullbacks, and Maxwell and Van der Meyde worked hard on the sidelines, with creative impulses.

This offensive pressure translated into a strong Ajax that played most of the first half in front of the Utrecht goal. Meanwhile, the Utrechters hardly created any chances, and Grim had an easy first 45 minutes. Still, Ajax had to wait until the 41st minute to score their first (and only) goal of the day, after what hardly could have been called a chance.

It all began with a magnificent rush by John O'Brien, who bypassed four Utrecht players on his way into the penalty area. But then his soft cross drifted over the heads of his teammates. It was then that the hard-working Mido collected the ball just wide of the Utrecht goal, keeping the ball from bouncing over the end-line. The young Egyptian made a brilliant move, leaving defender Zwaanswijk behind and finishing superbly in the far corner.

In the last few matches, Mido has really elevated his importance to the team. In March, while Ajax was playing against Feyenoord, he wasn't even on the bench, but spent a weekend in Cairo, disappointed that coach Koeman called him his 'number three striker'.

"I'm not happy at Ajax," he stated after his return. "And if I can't play as a striker I want to leave Ajax." A week later Koeman did give Mido - who originally was bought as a left winger - the chance to play as a striker. It turned out to be a wise decision. Since his short 'holiday' Mido has played eight league games, in which he scored no less than nine times, each goal more beautiful than the last.

In the first half of the season it was the youngster Rafael Van der Vaart who had to score all of Ajax' goals. Since his injury, Ajax has had big problems scoring. But now Mido seems to have taken over Van der Vaart's job. What would happen if the two played together next season? Its' a tantalizing prospect.

The important thing about Mido is that he also knows how, and is willing, to defend. And this was necessary too in the second half of the game. Utrecht already had showed at the end of the second half that they didn't want to lose, as a spectacular header by Zwaanswijk hit the cross bar. This was the first real chance for Utrecht, and after the break they created many more, though none were very dangerous.

Still, the final whistle by referee Dick Jol was like a liberation and was celebrated enthusiastically by the players. One of them was central defender Petri Pasanen, who replaced slightly injured André Bergdølmo midway through the second half. It was the young Finn's return to Ajax-1 after some eight months of injury trouble.

Due to PSV's loss of points at FC Twente, Ajax now stands a very good chance to win the Dutch championship, for the first time since 1998. The Amsterdammers require only four points from the two remaining games (at home against FC Den Bosch and away to NEC) to clinch the title. If PSV loses points against Willem II on Wednesday, Ajax can even wrap it up in the home game against Den Bosch.

Koeman thinks his team can manage this: "If I look at the first half of the match, I think we're ready for this final race." (BV)

Footnote: Utrecht fans sent back after racist yells

The section for visiting fans remained empty during Ajax vs FC Utrecht. Even an estimated thirty Utrecht supporters who had already entered the section, were driven out again by a battallion of riot police. All 670 Utrecht fans were put on their train just before kick-off and sent back to Utrecht on the double.

The disturbance was national news that night. According to a spokesman of the Amsterdam police department, the Utrecht fans solidly yelled Hamas, Hamas, all Jews have to be gassed upon arrival at the ArenA railway station. After consultations by telephone with the mayor of Amsterdam, Mr Job Cohen, the latter issued an official 'emergency order' to send the full group back to Utrecht. (MP)

GOALS

• 41' 1-0 Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam

Referee: Jol
Yellow cards: Van Halst, Machlas, Trabelsi (Ajax), Van Mol, Kuyt (Utrecht)
Attendance: 33,850

Ajax line-up: Grim; Trabelsi, Bergdølmo (65' Pasanen), Chivu, O'Brien, Van der Meyde (81' Yakubu), Galásek, Van Halst, Maxwell, Mido, Machlas (60' Zlatan)

FC Utrecht line-up: Wapenaar; Vreven, Zwaanswijk, Bosschaart, Van Mol, Roest, Jochemsen (46' Roiha), Tanghe, Touzani, Gluscevic (68' Van den Bergh), Kuyt.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Ajax current form
• Supershota: Goal from Mido, with help from O'Brien (AVI video)
• Ajax.nl: Match Report (in Dutch, with pictures)

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