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Match Report: One more point required...

A draw against NEC, next Sunday in Nijmegen, is enough for Ajax to claim the 28th Dutch championship in club history. In the last home game of the season, Ajax was - once again - hardly convincing, but also determined and effective. It was good enough for a 2-0 win over a pitiful and harmless FC Den Bosch.

In the final month of the season, Ajax' play is far from perfect. On the other hand: the victory over FC Den Bosch was the fourth in a row, making for Ajax' longest string of victories since Ronald Koeman assumed charge. In the decisive phase of the competition, rivals PSV and Feyenoord stumbled at relegation play-off candidates such as FC Twente and De Graafschap, but Ajax keeps winning. And, therefore, they must be doing something right.

Since winning teams should never be changed, Koeman lined up exactly the same 4-4-2 formation as last week against FC Utrecht, in spite of the fact that Brazilian winger Wamberto was available again, after his four game suspension. Van der Meyde (right) and Maxwell (left) played as outer midfielders.

With the finish line in sight, Ajax was taken by the hand a few weeks ago by the 19 year-old Ferrari driving Egyptian who refers to himself as Mido, the scorer of eight goals in the past seven games. Naturally, the crowd was worried when the limping superstar had to be replaced after only 32 minutes. However, for lack of Mido goals, Nikos Machlas did the honours in impressive style, winning the game for Ajax by scoring two fine goals.

Machlas scored his first after only five minutes, tipping a fine Mido cross past Belgian gooalkeeper Kris Mampaey at the near post. This was the perfect start against FC Den Bosch, a team only capable of playing extremely defensive, often destructive football. The tactics of coach Wiljan Vloet are all about keeping the score-sheet blank as long as possible. Now, Den Bosch was forced in an early stage to change its negative tactics.

Or rather, that's what you would expect. But Den Bosch hardly tried to play, or was incapable of it. The only time Ajax fans really held their breath, was when Cristian Chivu nochalantly let a poor Den Bosch thru-pass trickle towards Fred Grim. Chivu did not notice that Mourad came flying in and almost suprised the Ajax goalie.

Den Bosch's topscorer, Belgian striker Bart van den Eede, remained invisible throughout the game, probably missing the diligence of Jan Michels and the passing of veteran Fred van der Hoorn at his back. Both vital FC Den Bosch players were watching from the stands, suspended.

Mido's substitution, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, should have pocketed the three points in the first half, but he quite clumsily failed to convert an open heading opportunity. In the remainder of the first half, Andy van der Meyde was Ajax' most dangerous player. He concluded a few runs with good shots, some of which caused Mampaey trouble. For almost ten minutes, Ajax was down to ten men in the first half, after Jan van Halst was painfully hit on the head. With some stitches and bandage, Ajax' pitbull was able to continue.

So far, the game looked a lot like Ajax vs FC Utrecht, but where Ajax got itself into trouble last week, hardly able to escape from Utrecht's pressure in the second half, FC Den Bosch was not near as big a problem for the Amsterdammers. The 2-0 could have been scored in the 53rd minute, as Zlatan won the ball with a technically superb tackle, close to Mampaey's goal. He then released something which looked a bit like a shot, but also a bit like a cross. Whatever it was: it was inaccurate. A shame, because Maxwell was waiting for the ball, as free as a bird and ready to finish.

Nikos Machlas' second goal - a very well taken header, to which he added a lot of power with his upper body (73) - was a relief, despite FC Den Bosch's harmlessness. Finally, the fans at the officially sold-out but not completely filled ArenA could sit back, relax and sing some championship songs, for the first time since 1998.

However, some other fan songs had priority on this day: songs with the name of Fred Grim in them. The born and raised Amsterdammer, and true Ajacied, played his last home game for Ajax, which happened to be his 100th performance in Ajax-1. Three minutes before the end, the 37 year-old goalkeeper was replaced by Joey Didulica, so that the crowd could give him a warm ovation, on his very last walk from the pitch to the ArenA dressing-rooms.

After the game, there was a speech by general manager Arie van Eijden, and gifts for Grim and the other amicable Ajacied whom the fans said goodbye to: Ole Tobiasen, the unluckiest defender in the world, who will join AZ, to get his well-deserved chance to forget about four years of injuries and pain. Fred Grim will stay at Ajax, as a specialist goalkeepers' coach at De Toekomst.

During Ajax vs FC Den Bosch, the championship shield was already in the ArenA. Ajax could have won it today, although no-one seriously expected Frank Rijkaard's Sparta to surprise PSV. Ajax' only remaining rival won easily: 3-0. In Amsterdam, no-one cared a rap about that. It's all in Ajax' own hands. Next week, in the very last game of the season, one single point will be enough to get the party in Leidseplein started. (MP)

GOALS

• 05' 1-0 Nikos Machlas
• 73' 2-0 Nikos Machlas

Referee: Luyten
Yellow card: Wamberto (Ajax)
Attendance: 40,123

Ajax line-up: Grim (87. Didulica); Trabelsi, Bergdølmo, Chivu, O'Brien; Van der Meyde, Galásek, Van Halst, Maxwell (55. Wamberto); Machlas, Mido (32. Zlatan).

FC Den Bosch line-up: Mampaey; Faerber, Veenhof, Uneken, Van Kapel (46. Peelen); Mourad, Deckers, Meye (76. Plum), Van der Laak; Van den Eede, De Freitas (58. Maximiano).

Related Links:

• Discussion: Ajax current form
• Discussion: Fred Grim
• Supershota: Goals from Machlas (AVI video)
• Ajax.nl: Match Report (in Dutch, with pictures)