Van der Vaart 'shock start' good for win in 150th Classic
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Holland Casino Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 30 November, 2003
"I think you score such a goal only once in your
life," said Rafaël van der Vaart after the 150th
Classic against Feyenoord (2-0). The Ajax captain, who returned
from suspension and started as a central forward, referred
to the already legendary backward touch with his
heel, with which he flicked the ball over his own back and
into the net, leaving Feyenoord's defence stunned and
setting the atmospheric ArenA on fire as early as in the 4th
minute.
"The ball came slightly behind me, so I decided to do
it with my heel. I knew I had to hit it exactly right, but I
never expected it to go in like this," said Van der
Vaart, who - quite remarkably - never played a
Classic at the ArenA before. Wesley Sneijder on his
buddy's goal: "I thought the ball was going to Sonck. Then it
went in and I didn't believe what I was seeing."
Rafael van der Vaart takes
advantage of a confused Feyenoord defense
to score the second of his two goal. [Photo: Gerard van
Hees/Ajax.nl]
Ajax had a 'shock start' against its Rotterdam
arch-enemy, who - just like Ajax - had to put up with a
disappointing European result (Feyenoord was eliminated by FK
Teplice in the UEFA Cup). Only seven minutes after the opening
goal, the score that would turn out to be the full-time
result was on the board, as a smooth Mitea pass landed exactly
in between goalkeeper Patrick Lodewijks and defender Kees van
Wonderen, who blundered in an almost comical way, allowing the
onrushing Van der Vaart to tap home: 2-0 (11').
Ajax was 2-0 up in no time and it turned out to be
enough for the win, although Ajax most definitely did not play
a great game. In fact: after having scored two goals out
of half a chance, Ajax failed to create another good
chance in the first half. Feyenoord recovered remarkably
quickly from the early 'near-knockout' and actually was the
better side in the first half. The Ajax midfield, in
particular, had problems with Feyenoord's combination play
through the middle, in which Shinji Ono and Thomas Buffel were
the two most important factors.
In did not lead to large numbers of scoring
chances for the guests, but there were several dangerous
moments indeed, on which Ajax managed to intercept
just before a serious chance came to stand. Julien
Escudé and Johnny Heitinga, luckily, each played a
fine game and nipped several Rotterdam attempts
(Kuyt, Lurling) in the bud, so that Bogdan Lobont only had
to act on a fairly harmless Thomas Buffel shot. But
Feyenoord came close - and not just once.
Feyenoord's weaknesses were the lack of accuracy
of the final pass and - more than anything else - their forward
line, where former FC Utrecht striker Dirk Kuyt had his back
toward Lobont's goal for almost 90 minutes
and never got to play the game he's good at (creating
unrest in the penalty-box). The danger came from Feyenoord's
midfield, right through the middle, where Shinji Ono
played well. It was a major setback for Feyenoord
when 'friendly fire' by Robin van Persie hit the
Japanese superstar right on the liver. He collapsed, had to be
stretchered off unconscious and was replaced
by Song in the 35th minute. The Korean was one of
Feyenoord's weakest in the remaining 55 minutes.
It must be said, by the way, that if one side had reason
to use player availability as an excuse for its play, it
was Ajax. Van der Vaart and Heitinga returned from
suspensions, but Ajax still had to miss out on key players such
as Pienaar and Trabelsi, while strikers Ibrahimovic and
Sonck were available, but not fully recovered and unable to
play a whole game. The fittest, surprisingly, was
Sonck. Ibrahimovic started on the bench. He replaced
his hard-working but struggling Flemish colleague in
the second half.
Patrick Paauwe of Feyenoord
is disconsolate, while Mitea and
Sonck run to congratulate Rafael van der Vaart. [Photo:
ANP]
Although Ajax's play improved slightly after the break,
it was never great. But there sure was a difference: for
starters, defense and midfield seemed better organized.
Secondly, Ajax had a hatful of open chances to seriously hurt
Feyenoord in the second half. But football can be a strange
game: two goals from half a chance in the first half, zero
goals from at least half a dozen chances in the second. Van der
Vaart pushed a Mitea cross inches wide in the 48th minute
and Patrick Lodewijks saved two of his shots and
one close-range header. The arrival of Ibrahimovic almost
immediately had two moments of 'Zlatan magic' as a result. But
Lodewijks (who admitted that the 2-0 was his fault) had a
good second half - and protected his team from losing
by large figures. The numerous opportunities to make it
3-0 made Ajax's win, ultimately, a well-deserved one. And it
was about time, too: Ajax hadn't beaten Feyenoord in Amsterdam
since May 1999. Their last four visits to the ArenA
brought Feyenoord three draws and a win.
Some more trivia? It was Ajax's 50th
league victory under coach Ronald Koeman. Meanwhile,
Wesley Sonck played his 200th game as a professional
footballer. More importantly, Ajax is now four points
ahead of PSV and no less than ten points clear of
Feyenoord, who are 4th behind AZ. Meanwhile, the
Amsterdammers have qualification for the knock-out stages
of the Champions League in their own hands, which justifies the
conclusion that Ajax is having a very
satisfying first season-half. In order to enter the
winter-break satisfied, however, the Amsterdammers will
have to keep it up for a few more weeks, starting with a
fixture Ajax hasn't won in an even longer
time: Roda JC away. The last time Ajax won in Kerkrade was
in August 1998. (MP)
GOALS
- 04' 1-0 Rafaël van der Vaart
- 11' 2-0 Rafaël van der Vaart
Referee: Bossen
Yellow cards: Swerts, Schreuder
(Feyenoord)
Attendance: 50,344
Ajax line-up: Lobont; Grygera, Heitinga,
Escudé, Maxwell; De Jong, Galásek, Sneijder;
Sonck (62. Ibrahimovic), Van der Vaart (83. Yakubu), Mitea (69.
Soetaers).
Feyenoord line-up: Lodewijks; Swerts,
Van Wonderen, Paauwe, Snoyl; Schreuder, Buffel, Ono (39. Song),
Van Persie (75. Smolarek); Kuyt, Lurling (68. Kalou).
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