At last! Comeback win breaks ArenA spell against PSV: 2-1
2 (0) - 1
(1)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 08 February,
2004
Finally! The spell has
been broken...
It had been nine years since
Ajax beat PSV at home in an Eredivisie game. The last
time was on 22 January 1995, at the Olympic Stadium, on a goal
by Patrick Kluivert. That long record of disappointment and
frustration finally ended today, as two excellent goals by
Wesley Sneijder and Nicolea Mitea erased a first half PSV lead
and gave Ajax its first-ever league victory over PSV in the
Arena. Coincidentally, it was also the 100th league win for
Ajax in the Arena. In all, quite an historic day.
Streamers and banners decorated
the Arena prior to kick-off. [Photo: Ajax
USA]
Both
teams took the field in an atmosphere reminiscent
of a Champions League match. But in contrast to the
festive streamers,
flags and music, the first 30 minutes of football were
dismal, especially from Ajax. While new signee Yannis Anastasiou searched for
a way to contribute, Ajax mainstays Wesley Sneijder, Maxwell
and Victor Sikora all struggled through an opening period of
nervous, error-filled play. It was practically inevitable that
PSV would punish Ajax for one of its many early mistakes. And
PSV were arguably the more dangerous team in the
first half, although there were hardly any real scoring
chances on either end of the pitch.
However, it was a questionable free
kick call by referee Roelof Luinge from which PSV would
actually score. Mark van Bommel's free kick found the
head of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, whose perfectly
placed backward deflection arced beyond the reach of
Ajax keeper Maarten Stekelenburg. The PSV fans, who'd
already been out-singing the home crowd, were now in full voice
as the rest of the Arena fell silent.
Almost immediately after the
opening goal, Victor Sikora had the perfect chance to
equalize, nicely cutting into the penalty box
and coming face-to-face with Ronald Waterrreus. However,
instead of passing to an unmarked Wesley Sneijder, the Ajax
winger released a poor shot himself, easy prey for the PSV
goalkeeper. No reason to cheer for the home crowd. The only
real noise they made was at half-time, when a chorus of
disapproving whistles chased Ajax into the dressing room.
It seemed like the reigning champions were on their way to an
unbeaten streak of ten years in Amsterdam...
Whatever Ajax boss Ronald Koeman
said during the half-time break must have worked. A
re-committed Ajax came out in the second half and put
the guests under immediate pressure. Within one minute
Nigel de Jong had almost levelled the score. His
header, on a Wesley Sneijder free kick, seemed
unstoppable, but was fabulously punched off the line by
Waterreus.
Ajax were clearly playing
better than before the break, but the most wide open
chance in the first minutes of the second
half fell to PSV. Following a quick series of passes that
tore apart the Ajax defense, Vennegoor of Hesselink found the
ball at his feet and an unguarded Ajax goal just five
meters in front of him. His soft first-time shot somehow missed
its mark and found the far post instead. The rebound might
have been knocked back into the goal by an onrushing Nigel de
Jong, but the Ajax defender narrowly avoided touching the
ball. Had PSV's tall striker converted the open
chance, the game would have almost certainly gone out of
reach for Ajax.
Instead, Ajax took the initiative.
Moments after Venegoor of Hesselink's spectacular miss, and
just five minutes into the second half, Victor Sikora fed a
nice pass at the top of the penalty area to Maxwell, who
quickly played the ball on to Wesley Sneijder. The young Ajax
and Netherlands midfielder pushed the ball to his right, sized
up Waterreus' goal, and then laced a perfectly curled shot
around the PSV keeper and into the top-right corner. The
Arena crowd erupted: 1-1 (51').
Wesley Sneijder shoots. [Photo:
Gerard van Hees/Ajax.nl]
Sikora, who started the entire move
toward goal, was seriously injured on the play, had to be
stretchered off and was immediately replaced by Nicolae
Mitea. Moments earlier, John O'Brien had been replaced by
Rafaël van der Vaart. The American left the game due
to an apparently minor back injury. (Van der Vaart,
by the way, was not at all pleased that he started on the
bench. He had told Koeman that he was fit and wanted to
play from the start, but the coach decided otherwise.)
Just ten minutes later, both
substitutes -- Van der Vaart and Mitea
-- combined to score what would become the winning goal.
The play began with a clever chest-pass by Anastasiou to Van
der Vaart, who then played the ball into space along
the left edge of the PSV penalty box for the
speedy Mitea. The young Romanian carried the ball for a
few strides before firing somewhat weakly on goal. However,
when Wattereus failed to contain the shot, Mitea pounced on the
rebound to fire home from close range. It was the third goal in
three games for Mitea, who also scored against ADO Den Haag
last Sunday and from the penalty spot for Young Ajax on
Monday night. This one, however, was huge. It might turn out to
be one of the cornerstones of a championship.
John O'Brien evades a tackle by
PSV's Mateja Kezman. The American would
leave the game with a slight back injury early in the second
half. [Photo: ANP]
PSV kept their composure and
continued to stretch the sometimes shaky Ajax defense, earning
several corners in the second half. Midway through the second
half, Ronald Koeman made his third substitution, a tactical
one, replacing Daniël de Ridder with a defender, Zdenek
Grygera. Despite the more defensive posture, Ajax also
continued to press for another goal. And they nearly had it
when a Sneijder corner kick was headed on goal by
Rafaël van der Vaart but struck the crossbar and was
cleared out of danger.
Still, most of the chances in the
second half belonged to the visitors. And when a flash
counter-attack found Kezman unmarked and with the
ball in the right side of Stekelenburg's goalmouth, the
whole Arena seemed to hold its breath. The clinical
Serbia-Montenegran's curling shot was just barely
under-hit, allowing the Ajax keeper to reach it at full stretch
and turn it wide for another PSV corner. Minutes later,
Kezman had another great chance to level the game when
Holland's top scorer was, amazingly, left completely unmarked
on yet another corner kick. However, his header went just wide
once again.
The final minutes were
edge-of-your-seat stuff, with slightly desperate defending by
Ajax just enough to foil the slightly desperate attacks
of PSV and, at the other end, a disallowed Yannis
Anastasiou goal (the Greek was a couple of steps off-side). In
the end, Ajax found itself celebrating their
first-ever league victory over PSV in the Arena, and PSV
found itself looking up at an Amsterdam side with a three
point lead and a game in hand.
''I don't think that the race for the championship is
over,'' Koeman said after the game. ''But this victory has
given us a boost and is probably a bit of a blow for
PSV.'' (JM)
Update (09 February): According to Ajax.nl the
injury of Victor Sikora (who was stretchered off and seemed
heavily injured) is not as bad as it seemed. The left winger's
Achilles tendon was hit, but he will only be sidelined for
one or two weeks. Sikora is expected to miss only one game:
Sunday's away fixture at FC Volendam.
GOALS
- 42' 0-1 Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink
- 51' 1-1 Wesley Sneijder
- 61' 2-1 Nicolae Mitea
Referee: Luinge
Yellow cards: De Jong, De Ridder,
Galásek, Van der Vaart (Ajax), Hofland,
Kezman (PSV).
Attendance: 50,406
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; De Jong,
Heitinga, Escudé, O'Brien (52. Van der Vaart);
Galásek, Sneijder, Maxwell; De Ridder (74. Grygera),
Anastasiou, Sikora (54. Mitea).
PSV line-up: Waterreus; Colin (35. Addo),
Hofland, Bouma, Lee; Lucius, Van Bommel, Vogel, Robben;
Vennegoor of Hesselink, Kezman.
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