Humiliating NAC knock-out for meandering Ajax: 4-2
4 (1) - 2
(0)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
MyCom Stadium , Breda
Sunday, 21 September, 2003
It could have been such a great weekend for Ajax: rivals
Feyenoord and PSV played each other in Rotterdam, while Ajax
was to defend its top Eredivisie slot against an opponent with
a thrilling UEFA Cup fixture at Newcastle United coming up. A
great chance to do some good business, but it passed off very
differently. Ajax received an unforgettable whipping from an
NAC Breda side inspired by a vindictive Ajax loanee (Nourdin
Boukhari) and an unchained Feyenoord cast-off (Johan Elmander):
4-2. Meanwhile, PSV clinched the three points in De Kuip (1-3)
and leapfrogged Ajax in the table.
Yakubu struggles with NAC Breda's
Johan Elmander. [Photo: Louis van de Vuurst/Ajax.nl]
A quick peek into last season's Ajax Yearbook could have
warned the team. The similarities are striking: almost exactly
one year ago Ajax suffered an encouraging and unlucky 1-0
defeat in Milan. Three days later the poorly concentrated
Amsterdammers were almost taken by surprise by an opportunistic
NAC Breda side at the ArenA: 2-2. The differences: this time
the creditable defeat was suffered at AC Milan instead of
Inter, and the subsequent fixture against NAC Breda was an away
game. The result was devastating.
Coach Ronald Koeman, who placed Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the
bench due to his persistent groin injury and fielded Wesley
Sneijder instead, could not believe his eyes: "I have never
seen such disorder in our defense before." Indeed: just like
last season in the ArenA, a lame Ajax side fell victim to a
stunning string of defensive errors. The first one came so
early (after only seven minutes) that Ajax was chasing shadows
for the large part of the game. It started with Julien
Escudé stepping out of his zone, attempting to clear a
fairly low ball with the head which he had better put his boot
against. No Ajax defender was marking his opponent, so that
Johan Elmander could easily flick the ball on to an unmarked
Nourdin Boukhari, who translated all of his frustration and
disappointment into a beautiful volley with his right - and
went totally out of his mind celebrating it: 1-0.
The remainder of the first half made clear what Ajax's
problems were: a total lack of agression and fighting spirit, a
lack of movement upfront, a lack of order in the back. The only
real chance the Amsterdammers created was for Abubakari Yakubu,
who stormed forward and was totally unmarked as a perfect
Wesley Sneijder corner ended on his forehead. The defender, not
used to getting major scoring chances, aimed too high.
At that point, by the way, NAC Breda should already have
doubled the score. Boukhari was unstoppable in the opening
phase. One of his fine runs was concluded with a perfect low
cross, which Johan Elmander only had to tap against the nets.
His touch was inaccurate, so that Bogdan Lobont could save. The
Romanian never had as much work to do between the Ajax posts.
He was, quite typically, by far the best Ajacied on the
day.
Things had to change in the second half, so that Zlatan
Ibrahimovic once again had to grit his teeth and play a half of
football on painkillers. He had touched the ball exactly once
when Julien Escudé laconically allowed Johan Elmander to
steal the ball from him. There was no Ajax defender to be seen
as the Swede, who was deemed to much of a dreamer by Feyenoord,
stormed across the whole of Ajax's half and shot Ajax's good
intentions to pieces: 2-0, less than 45 seconds into the second
half.
In the following 20 minutes Ajax was staggering around like
an unsteady boxer, about to collapse and hit the canvas. NAC
Breda's 3-0 (a fine Elmander header) was inevitable, after
which the hosts could have humiliated Ajax by a historic score.
Referee Vink was blatantly wrong to disallow an Anouar Diba
goal, after which Boukhari, Elmander and Slot came face-to-face
with Bogdan Lobont in only a few minutes' time. The Romanian
saved in great style on all three occasions.
Ajax was in despair and totally gave up hope as Rafaël
van der Vaart and substitute Victor Sikora missed open chances
to score. It was hopeless, so it seemed, but Ajax somehow came
back into the game in two minutes' time, albeit more by good
luck than by good judgement. It started with an embarrassing
error of NAC's otherwise flawless Hungarian goalkeeper,
Gabór Babos, who totally misjudged a harmless Sikora
shot and let it slip through his fingers. A single Ajax goal
did not seem to be too much of a problem for the yellow and
black hosts, but this changed as Zlatan Ibrahimovic graciously
tipped a fine Maxwell cross into the netting: 3-2, with no less
than twenty minutes ahead!!
Ajax's collective non-performance is best illustrated by the
fact that Ajax never came closer to the equalizer than a decent
long range attempt by Wesley Sonck. Instead of taking full
control, the Amsterdammers' play became cluttered and
hasty. Arne Slot and substitute Ali Boussaboun could
have sealed NAC's well-deserved victory considerably
earlier than in the 93rd minute, in which Stefano Seedorf
finally wrapped it up by calmly converting a simple
counter-attack.
"We had a collective off-day and NAC took advantage of
that", said Ronald Koeman after the game. Then, cynically:
"Actually, they did not take advantage of it at all. If they
had it would have been 7-1. 8-1 would have been possible. At a
certain point I found myself thinking: in God's name, let's
keep it down to 3-0. We did not at all deserve to get back into
the game. It was very strange that we did." Koeman's NAC Breda
colleague, Ton Lokhoff, flabbergasted: "If someone had told me
we would get this many chances against Ajax, I would have told
that person he were insane."
Ajax' first league stumble since 23 March of this year (2-0
at PSV) was an unusually embarrassing one. NAC Breda scored
only four goals in its first four games, but was allowed by
Ajax to double its total production, making for its second win
in five games. Disgraceful, to say the very least. The chance
to make up for it follows next Sunday, as the surprising #4 on
the table - Willem II from Tilburg - visits the ArenA. (MP)
GOALS
- 07' 1-0 Nourdin Boukhari
- 46' 2-0 Johan Elmander
- 57' 3-0 Johan Elmander
- 70' 3-1 Victor Sikora
- 72' 3-2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- 90+3' 4-2 Stefano Seedorf
Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: Fehér (NAC
Breda)
Attendance: 16,000
Ajax line-up: Lobont; Trabelsi, Yakubu,
Escudé (53. Sikora), Maxwell; Galásek, Sneijder
(46. Ibrahimovic), Van der Vaart; Pienaar, Sonck, Soetaers (70.
Wamberto).
NAC Breda line-up: Babos; Fehér,
Penders (67. Koning), Gudelj, Schenning; Petö, Slot,
Seedorf; Diba (75. Engelaar), Elmander (73. Elmander),
Boukhari.
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