Knock out! Ajax humiliated at Heerenveen: 4-1
4 (1) - 1
(0)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
Abe Lenstra Stadium, Heerenveen
Wednesday, 25 February, 2004
The past
weeks brought unforgettable highlights to the lives
of several Ajax players: Hatem Trabelsi became champion of
Africa with Tunisia, Julien Escudé became a father,
Johnny Heitinga made his Holland début. The team
as whole beat PSV (2-1) and saw them stumble
again at Heerenveen (3-2). Oh, euphoria! You'd
almost forget about Ajax's shockingly
poor performances of recent weeks. The second 45
minutes against PSV were actually the only ones
in the most recent 270 in which Ajax looked like
a champion.
You could, therefore, say that
Ajax had it coming: 90 minutes of football at Heerenveen's
Abe Lenstra Stadium (the Eredivisie fixture that got
cancelled on 28 January) was enough to put the
feet of the Ajacieden back on the icey ground of
Friesland, in merciless fashion: 4-1. The landing was none too
soft. Ajax was humiliated, trampled under foot and totally
ripped to pieces in a bewildering second half that brought
back unpleasant memories of Ajax's most recent visit to
NAC Breda (4-2) or (even more so) the
historic 5-1 spanking that Ajax received from Heerenveen
on 24 October
2001.
This
season's confrontation had many things in common with
the October 2001 fixture, such as the fact
that no-one could have predicted the dramatic final
score based on the first half. The Amsterdammers (with Hatem
Trabelsi back in the starting eleven, but without an injured
Rafaël van der Vaart) were actually the dominant side in
the first half. Without being flashy, the team played
considerably better football than it did against Volendam
and Twente in recent weeks. Ajax looked particularly solid in
the back: Heerenveen played fairly well also, but didn't manage
a real scoring chance in the first 40 minutes. The game was in
perfect balance.
If one side should have taken
the lead it would have been Ajax. However, Yannis Anastasiou's
7th minute goal was disallowed because the Greek
pushed a defender over before volleying Trabelsi's
cross against the nets (a correct call by referee Vink).
The former Roda man missed an open scoring
chance seven minutes later, as defender Marcel Seip nodded
the ball straight into his feet, offering him an
unmarked scoring chance from close range. His attempt
was saved by Boy Waterman, Heerenveen's young goalkeeper from
the Ajax youth, who made his Eredivisie début in default
of first goalie, Hans Vonk. Waterman also saved well on a fine
Anastasiou header in the 21st minute.
Sonck, Heitinga and Anistasiou
leave the pitch after losing 4-1 to SC Heerenveen. [Photo:
ANP]
Another parallel between the October 2001 game and
this one: in both games an opening goal scored out of
nowhere, in the very last minute of the first half, marked
the start of a dramatic night. Johnny
Heitinga did not pay attention in a scrimmage with
Jesper Hakansson and wasn't aware that the ball landed behind
him. Hakansson picked it up, saw his attempt saved by
Maarten Stekelenburg, but the rebound was slammed home by Mika
Väyrynen, Heerenveen's superb Finnish midfielder, via the
inside of the post: 1-0 (44').
What happened to Ajax in the second half was, just like in
October 2001, a complete mystery. Ajax briefly took the
initiative, but instantly lost it after five minutes. It
marked the start of 40 minutes of football in which nothing,
literally nothing went right for the Amsterdammers: no
pass arrived, no combination worked, no phyiscal duel (on the
ground or in the air) was won, no Heerenveen player could be
stopped. Perhaps it was the snow, which started falling in the
last minutes of the first half and had turned the pitch icy by
the start of the second half. It was reminiscent of
the tragic night at
Club Brugge in December 2003. Over there, too, the
hosts were perfectly able to play on a slippery
surface, whereas the Ajacieden failed to keep their
footing, literally and metaphorically.
Heerenveen's second and decisive goal came from the right
foot of former Ajacied Richard Knopper. For mysterious reasons
Maarten Stekelenburg decided to punch (rather than
catch) an Erik Edman corner kick that came straight at him.
Richard Knopper's volley was a true 'stunner', that
slammed home via the head of Julien Escudé, from at
least 20 yards.
Knopper had a fine game, but Heerenveen's true superstars
were Jesper Hakansson and Mika Väyrynen, two of the
Frisians' many Nordic players. Both added a goal in
gracious style: Väyrynen by chipping the ball over
Stekelenburg after a combination of a beauty that Ajax
supporters have rarely seen this season (74') - and
Hakansson by turning away from Heitinga on a long kick by
goalkeeper Waterman and furiously firing home from 20 yards
(84'). 4-0. It could have been 8-0, if Selakovic
(face-to-face with Stekelenburg), Hestad and Knopper had
converted their enormous chances. Throughout the second half
Heerenveen cut through Ajax's midfield and defense like a hot
knife through soft butter.
As for Ajax: the team created one situation that kind of
looked like a scoring chance, as Anastasiou flicked the ball on
to Wesley Sonck, who had to volley backwards and saw the ball
fly over the cross-bar. That was it. Ajax's total powerlessness
up front was, ironically, best underscored by the way the
team notched its 'consolation goal': Ajax couldn't
even push it against the nets themselves. Petter Hansson, the
Swedish giant who did not seem to have any trouble with the
frosty pitch whatsoever, did it for the pathetic Amsterdam
formation. No-one in Heerenveen (or anywhere else) seemed to
care.
Literally everyone on the side of Ajax failed in
the second half. Even coach Ronald Koeman admitted after the
game that it was a mistake to replace left fullback Maxwell
with Wesley Sonck and play one-on-one in defense. The
remaining defenders couldn't deal with it and as a result had a
traumatic evening. "This was a lesson for me," said
Koeman, who suffered his largest defeat with Ajax so far.
Hopefully for Ajax there will be one more similarity between
this defeat and the painful stumble of 24 October 2001: at that
time, Ajax moved on to win the Dutch championship. The
Amsterdammer's chances are, in spite of the Heerenveen result,
very good indeed. A win in Heerenveen would have unexpectedly
put Ajax nine points clear of PSV. Now it's 'only'
six, a gap that was deemed 'decisive' by the Dutch
press after Ajax vs PSV (2-1).
Nevertheless, the team's total lack of form and the fact
that its play was almost never impressive this
season, are reasons to take the remainder very seriously.
Especially with two more away fixtures coming up that cost Ajax
no less than five points last season: at FC Utrecht and RKC
Waalwijk. If that happens again this season, the lead will have
evaporated by 06 March... (MP)
GOALS
- 44' 1-0 Mika Väyrynen
- 59' 2-0 Richard Knopper
- 74' 3-0 Mika Väyrynen
- 84' 4-0 Jesper Hakansson
- 87' 4-1 Petter Hansson (own goal)
Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: Selakovic (SC Heerenveen),
De Jong (Ajax)
Attendance: 15,300
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Heitinga, Escudé, Maxwell (62. Sonck); De Jong,
Galásek, Sneijder (78. Obodai); De Ridder, Anastasiou,
Sikora (69. Mitea).
SC Heerenveen line-up: Waterman; Edman,
Hansson, Seip, Bakkati (61. Haarala); Radomski, Hestad,
Väyrynen (85. De Lange); Selakovic, Hakansson (89.
Hooiveld), Knopper.
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