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Match Report: Ajax can live with 1-1 draw in eventful game in Waalwijk

Only one week after claiming it, Ajax has lost the top slot in the Eredivisie to PSV again. PSV and Feyenoord closed in on Ajax, by each scoring five against their respective opponents, as Ajax and RKC Waalwijk settled for a 1-1 draw, in a game that was both adorned and marred by irregularities of different kinds.

Key question for Ajax: did the Amsterdammers win a point, or did they lose two?

Hard to say. Looking at the scoring chances, Ajax lost two. The team's combination play looked good in the first half. Andy van der Meyde got a free passage towards goalkeeper Rob van Dijk, but was unlucky to see his low, diagonal shot bounce back from the far post. The RKC goalkeeper was lucky in the 41st minute, too, as a Cristian Chivu free kick seemed headed for the upper ninety. Van Dijk managed to just touch the ball with his fingertips, so it hit the cross-bar instead.

For Ajax, there were corners, dangerous attacks from the flanks and shooting attempts. The opening goal seemed a matter of time. On the other side of the pitch, there were only two moments of danger, as striker Rick Hoogendorp had a free passage, but saw Jelle Van Damme steal it from his foot just as he was about to fire. Also, there was a good shot by former Young Ajax and Haarlem midfielder Serginho Greene, who had a good game for the Waalwijk side.

The real spectacle, however, followed in the second half, which - quite hilariously - started a few minutes late because the local fanfare refused to leave the pitch without having finished its show. Several RKC stewards and a police officer followed the marching conductor, trying to direct his band and majorettes off the pitch. But they marched on and even made an extra circle around the pitch, as the teams were already waiting in formation, before marching out of Mandemakers Stadium.

Only minutes into the second half, Ajax seemed to take the lead as Zlatan Ibrahimovic calmly headed home from a beautiful Richard Witschge cross. However, Temmink enraged the section of travelling Ajax fans by disallowing the goal for off-side. TV footage later showed that he was right: Zlatan was off-side, albeit by mere inches.

Nevertheless, the tone was set for a second half in which Temmink and the Ajax fans did not exactly become friends. Jari Litmanen was pushed over in the RKC penalty box. Temmink did not give the penalty - and once again he seemed right. Only minutes later, a superb thru-pass sent Rick Hoogendorp on his way to the opening goal. Cristian Chivu pulled him down and took off his captain's band immediately, knowing that Temmink had gone for the red card in his breast pocket. Not exactly the 'birthday card' Chivu had in mind on his 22nd birthday.

Just like against Rosenborg on Tuesday, the 'pulling of the emergency break' proved to have been in vain, as Hoogendorp himself fired the following free-kick against the nets: 1-0 (57). Rather undeserved, but understandably, no-one in Waalwijk cared about that.

The section of Ajax fans disagreed with that point of view and declared war on Temmink -- who, in fact, had been right on every crucial moment -- by continuously wishing him all kinds of fatal diseases and making assertions about the profession of his mother. A warning by the stadium speaker only made things worse, after which Temmink decided to direct the teams into the dressing-rooms for a 'cooling down period' which was to last for twelve minutes.

As the Ajax support quite wittily sang: 'Oh, we are so sweet' and 'We want the fanfare back!', Ronald Koeman and general director Arie van Eijden walked up to the Ajax section, asking the fans to behave themselves. Meanwhile, Mido was doing warming-up exercises on the otherwise empty pitch, ready to enter the game after its resumption.

The interruption, however, proved to have been exactly what Ajax needed. Immediately after the resumption, Mido (newly brought on) kicked the ball in front of goal, where Maxwell - who returned to Ajax-1 action after weeks of injury trouble - headed home for his first ever official Ajax goal: 1-1 (72). Cynical as it may be, it's safe to say that the struggling Ajax ten would not have equalized without the verbal misbehaviour of their fans. Good for Maxwell, who will almost certainly play as a left back on Wednesday, in Lyon, in default of John O'Brien (injured) and Jelle Van Damme (suspended).

In the remainder of the game, a Mido volley, an open Trabelsi chance and shots by Galásek and Pienaar could have brought Ajax the full three points. It would not have been an unfair result, although subsitute John van Loenhout could also have scored a last gasp winner for RKC in the 88th. He had the almost perfect scoring chance, face-to-face with Timmer, but his wild, uncontrolled shot was yards too high.

Koeman's fair analysis: "When you're a goal down in Waalwijk and playing with ten, but you still manage to grab a point, you can't really be dissatisfied. But looking at the game as a whole, we should have grabbed the three points. We should have been two goals up after twenty minutes."

The Ajax coach replaced both Richard Witschge and Jari Litmanen in the second half. Not because they were injured, but simply because "a full game every three days is a lot for some of the older guys." That's Ajax' schedule indeed, these days. Olympique Lyonnais is waiting on Wednesday. The situation in Group D, simply put: assuming that Inter will beat Rosenborg in Milan, a win or a draw in Lyon means that any margin of victory over Inter in the final home game will be enough to advance. If Ajax lose, Inter will have to be beaten by two goals in the final home game. An important difference, which makes the Lyon game an important one. (MP)

GOALS

• 57' 1-0 Rick Hoogendorp
• 72' 1-1 Maxwell

Referee: Temmink
Red card: Chivu (Ajax, 56')
Attendance: 7,300
Miscellaneous: Game was interrupted for 12 minutes (69') by referee Temmink, due to continuous insulting chants from the section of travelling Ajax fans.

Ajax line-up: Timmer; Trabelsi, Bergdølmo, Chivu, Van Damme; Galásek, Litmanen (75. Pienaar), Witschge (60. Maxwell); Van der Meyde, Zlatan, Boukhari (72. Mido).

RKC Waalwijk line-up: Van Dijk; Boulahrouz, Nikiforov, Van den Berg, De Graef; Van Diemen, Molhoek (85. Van Loenhout), Greene, Oost (80. Fuchs); Cornelisse (74. Jansen), Hoogendorp.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie Games
• Supershota: Goals (AVI video)
• Team Profile: RKC
• Ajax.nl: Match Report (in Dutch)