Ajax book easy win at RBC (1-4) as Galasek returns
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1 (0) - 4
(3)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
Vast & Goed Stadium, Roosendaal
Sunday, 30 April, 2005
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If Ajax manage to grab six points from the last three
league games of the season the Amsterdammers will finish a
deeply disappointing season as Holland's #2 after all
and (more importantly) get the chance to qualify for
next season's Champions League via the third
preliminary round. That is the conclusion
after Saturday's easy win at RBC Roosendaal. Ajax had
great difficulty against lowly opponents such as
Den Bosch,
NEC and
De Graafschap in recent weeks, but - at the
Eredivisie's tiniest football ground - Ajax
finally put a result on the score-board
that may be expected from the
Amsterdammers against a team that lost 21 out of 30
league games: 1-4.
Back after a four month
battle
against injury: Tomás Galásek. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Even better news: Tomás Galásek, the 'spine'
of the team and the man who makes the Ajax
midfield tick, returned to the side after some four months of
rehab (his last appearance in Ajax-1 was on
19 December 2004 at FC Groningen). The Czech's
return led to several changes in the line-up:
Galásek played in central midfield, so that Hedwiges
Maduro moved back to central defense. Central defender Julien
Escudé, in his turn, played at left fullback. The
victim of the 'carroussel' was young Urby Emanuelson,
who returned to the bench. Danny Blind also made some
changes upfront: Angelos Charisteas played from the start, so
that Ryan Babel moved to the left and Nicolae Mitea to the
bench. For the record: Rosales, Maxwell, Trabelsi, Van der
Vaart and Lindgren were unavailable due to injuries.
Galásek played as if he was never away:
sober, flawless and efficient. The Czech even notched a
goal, by deftly firing a penalty into the top corner in
the 62nd minute to make it 0-4, after Nigel de Jong was brought
down inside the penalty box by Jose Fortes Rodriguez. It was
one of precisely two highlights in an extremely dull and tepid
second half. The second was the hosts' meaningless but
very pretty 'consolation goal', a well-taken diagonal
strike from RBC sub Tim Smolders: 1-4 (80'). Danny Blind said
after the game that he was not pleased with Ajax's second half
performance, and it must have been almost impossible to
find a spectator at Vast & Goed Stadium who
disagreed with him...
Luckily for Blind his team had already done the
business before the half-time break. Ajax played quite well in
the first half, although they were never seriously
challenged. Steven Pienaar (11'), John Heitinga (20') and
Nigel de Jong (21') should have given Ajax the lead, but
failed. Pienaar's chance in particular was an absolute
'sitter': goalkeeper Aerts couldn't hold on to Maduro's
shot and was already beaten, but saw Pienaar fire wide in the
rebound. Aerts saved the attempts from Heitinga
and De Jong in spectacular fashion. Two minutes later, however,
he had no chance on a low and
well-aimed shot from an unmarked Steven
Pienaar, after stylish work and a smart
assist from Angelos Charisteas: 0-1 (23'). RBC had
not even been near Hans Vonk yet.
Fifteen minutes after Pienaar's opening goal Ajax gave the
struggling hosts the knock-out blow by scoring twice in less
than sixty seconds' time. Wesley Sneijder beautifully curled a
free-kick from some 20 yards into the net in the 38th
minute, after which RBC kicked off and immediately
brought goalkeeper Aerts into trouble with a nonchalant
backpass. Angelos Charisteas reacted the way a real
striker should: he chased the ball, jumped in front of Aerts'
attempt to rocket it forward, blocked it with
his back and tapped it into the empty goal: 0-3 (39').
Game over. The home side can focus on the post-season
play-offs, their last chance to survive on the highest
level of Dutch football.
Ryan Babel started as Ajax's left
forward. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Tim Smolders' 80th minute goal was RBC's very first shot on
target, but it must be said that Ajax were hardly
impressive either in the second half. The Amsterdammers'
passing was too slow on what was not only the first warm summer
evening of 2005, but also the Dutch national holiday known
as Queen's Day. Which explains why the tiny
visitors section of Vast & Goed Stadium did not even
sell out entirely: only some 400 Ajax supporters made the
trip to the south. The ones who decided to give this
game a miss and celebrate Queen's Day in downtown
Amsterdam probably had a better time...
The happiest man after the game was, understandably,
Tomás Galásek. "I've been unlucky this season,"
said the Czech, "and it's a shame that I couldn't return
any sooner than today. But it went well. I am particularly
happy about the fact that I played the full 90 minutes. It was
perfect that we scored three goals fairly quickly. It made it
an easy game, which we could play out without much
trouble."
Three more games to play, six more points required... It
should be do-able for Ajax. The league's #3, AZ, may
have returned to winning ways after five matches without a win
(2-1 against Groningen), but the gap is four points
and two out of the remaining three fixtures for
Ajax are home games against mid-table teams that have
nothing left to play for: FC Groningen on 22 May and
(next Saturday) RKC Waalwijk. The Champions League is
within reach. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, De Telegraaf
GOALS
- 23' 0-1 Steven Pienaar
- 38' 0-2 Wesley Sneijder
- 39' 0-3 Angelos Charisteas
- 62' 0-4 Tomás Galásek
(penalty)
- 80' 1-4 Tim Smolders
Referee: Wiedemeijer
Yellow card: Escudé (Ajax),
Lammens, Fortes Rodriguez (RBC Roosendaal)
Attendance: 5,000
Ajax line-up: Vonk; Heitinga, Maduro,
Grygera, Escudé; De Jong, Galásek, Sneijder (64.
De Ridder); Pienaar, Charisteas, Babel (75. Boukhari).
RBC Roosendaal line-up: Aerts; Loran,
Molenaar, Fortes Rodriguez, Lammens; Hammond, Oliseh (72.
Luyten), De Lange, Guyt (46. Smolders); Hakansson, De
Groot.
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