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Match Report: FC Utrecht knocked out late in scorching heat

'Welcome to the home of the Amstel Cup winner', said a huge banner, put up by the F-Side. "Where is the Amstel Cup?" and "He was yards, yards, yards off-side" were two of the nagging yells rolling from the stands. But for almost an hour FC Utrecht seemed to revenge itself on the team that 'stole' its Amstel Cup in May. The guests held on to a point until the 80th minute, but had to surrender to Mido (80) and Steven Pienaar (85), making for a happy ending to Ajax' season's opener.

The ArenA was buzzing with optimism - and why not? Ajax' pre-season campaign - which included victories over Celtic, Manchester United, FC Barcelona and PSV - was no less than impressive. Also, FC Utrecht can glory in only a single victory in Amsterdam ever (1-2 in 1998). The optimists were proven right after only five minutes, as Mido penetrated the Utrecht defence from the right flank and saw how Tomás Galásek superbly placed his right against the Egyptian's smart little back-pass: 1-0.

Galásek's highly intelligent, cunning strike from outside the penalty box was the reward for a furious start. Remarkably furious, given the temperatures in the oven that was the ArenA. It was obvious that Ajax had to switch to a lower gear at a certain point. Before that, however, the Amsterdammers should have doubled the score. With Rafaël van der Vaart as an unstoppable sender of smart passes, FC Utrecht seemed ready for an early knock-out.

But it didn't go in, for which Ajax paid the price when the heat forced the team to lean on its defence for a while. Striker Dirk Kuijt missed two enormous chances for the equalizer: first he fired over the cross-bar, standing so shockingly unmarked that it was almost a penalty-kick. Shortly after that, André Bergdølmo came to rescue on the goal-line, after Kuijt's header had already beaten Maarten Stekelenburg, who made his Eredivisie debut for Ajax-1.

The equalizer was in the hot Amsterdam air. After referee Luinge had interrupted the game for a brief 'drinking break', it was scored by… Cristian Chivu, who saw his desperate attempt to keep left back Tom Van Mol from scoring slam against his own net (31). Still before the half-time break, the weakest link in Ajax' back four was replaced. What exactly is wrong with André Bergdølmo is a mystery, but the usually faultless Norwegian is nowhere near his excellent form of last season. The official reason for his substitution was a minor injury.

The sense of optimism had by then vanished, as the crowd slowly started reminiscing of last season's highly frustrating Eredivisie opener against Roda JC, in which Ajax worked hard, but lacked ideas and physical power upfront. The guests, in the mean time, got the best chance to score, but Chivu headed Dave van den Bergh's attempt from the goal-line.

What to do? Andy van der Meyde played a weak second half, newcomer Victor Sikora only stood out by continuously choosing the wrong tactical position and Mido was rather useless. Only Rafaël van der Vaart continued to impress, even though Luinge kept allowing Jean-Paul de Jong and Stijn Vreven to sandwich him, pull his shirt and arms and kick his shins.

Sikora and Mido (who should have converted a Van der Vaart free-kick, but headed wide) in particular seemed ready to be replaced, but Koeman decided not to. He replaced Maxwell and Van der Meyde instead and ordered a switch from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2. It turned out to be the 'lucky decision of a good coach', as they say: it was Sikora who released a superb cross of a quality which - admittedly - you almost never see from Wamberto. Mido walked away from Robert Roest, who was just brought on and seemed unsure who to mark, heading the liberating 2-1 past Wapenaar (80).

Now that is the difference between last year's and this year's Ajax: the ability to change to a different tactical concept during a game, the ability to give precise, decisive even when the team's playing poorly (Van der Vaart, Sikora) and the ability to score out of nowhere (Mido). Steven Pienaar, in the mean time, set up a beautiful attack with Zlatan, scoring Ajax' third himself, after Wapenaar had saved the Swede's attempt with his legs.

3-1; it seemed like the game had been perfectly under control.

Next up is the first way game of the season, at the ground where Ajax never won, so far: Vitesse's Gelredome in Arnhem. About time to set the record straight. (MP)

GOALS

• 05' 1-0 Tomás Galásek
• 31' 1-1 Cristian Chivu (own goal)
• 80' 2-1 Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam
• 85' 3-1 Steven Pienaar

Referee: Luinge
Yellow card: Sikora (Ajax), De Jong (FC Utrecht)
Attendance: 34,434

Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi, Chivu, Bergdølmo (38. Pasanen), O'Brien; Galásek, Van der Vaart, Maxwell (69. Pienaar); Van der Meyde (69. Zlatan), Mido, Sikora.

FC Utrecht line-up: Wapenaar; Vreven, Zwaanswijk, Touzani, Van Mol; Tanghe, De Jong (74. Roest), Bosschaart (83. Roiha), Van den Bergh; Gluscevic, Kuijt.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie Games
• Supershota: Goals (AVI video)
• Ajax.nl: Match Report (in Dutch, with pictures)