Ajax enter break with a smile: win at Groningen as rivals lose

Only two weeks ago Ajax were ten points behind league leaders PSV and highly uncertain as to whether their European safari would continue after the winter break. Now, two games against AJ Auxerre are on the agenda - and the gap with PSV has been reduced to five points. AZ can, surprisingly, enjoy their Christmas turkey as the 'Winter champions', but whereas PSV and Feyenoord enter the break frustrated (no win in their last two league games), Ajax do so with a smile. Knowing that both of their rivals had suffered surprising defeats (PSV vs Roda 0-2 and ADO Den Haag vs Feyenoord 2-0) the Amsterdammers booked a convincing win at FC Groningen (0-4). A dead season has been brought back to life...

And there are more reasons to enter 2005 optimistically. Ajax will almost certainly buy one or two players in January, but apart from that: the current squad seems to (finally) have picked up their form. Groningen-away was, over 90 minutes, arguably their best league game since the first weeks of the season. Coach Ronald Koeman fielded the same eleven as last week against Vitesse, with Nigel de Jong in central defense because Zdenek Grygera wasn't quite ready for a return yet. Groningen boss Ron Jans missed more players. Forwards Brian Pinas, former Ajacied Kiran Bechan and the club's succesful recent signing, Norwegian striker Erik Nevland, were missing due to injuries.

Yet, a tough game seemed ahead for Ajax: Groningen are stronger than in recent seasons and, in spite of the fact that Ajax traditionally book good results at Oosterpark Stadium, Ajax always seem to concede at least one goal in Groningen, where a few phases of tremendous pressure by the 'Pride of the North' must be survived every year.

This time around there was only one brief period in which the hosts seriously tested Ajax's defense. This was in the beginning of the second half, in which the roar of the home crowd pushed Groningen forward and Hans Vonk had to rescue Ajax when Danny Buijs (from the right) and Stefano Seedorf (from the left) showed up in front of him. Vonk could only just tip Buijs' beautiful lob over the cross-bar and push Seedorf's low attempt wide, so that Maxwell could clear.

'Birthday boy' Ryan Babel rushes forward. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Otherwise, Ajax were in control. Caution was the keyword in the first half, as both teams took their time to get used to the slightly icy and slippery pitch. Yet, Ajax had a string of early chances. They could already have taken the lead after seven minutes, as Paul Matthijs obstructed Wesley Sneijder on the edge of the area and Rafaël van der Vaart's free-kick landed against the post. Two minutes later Nicolae Mitea's shot on a Trabelsi cross was cleared off the goal-line.

In the latter ten minutes of the first half Hatem Trabelsi (shot from the edge of the area), Tomás Galásek (header on a Mitea cross) and Nicolae Mitea came close to scoring. The Romanian actually netted, on a low Rosales cross, but did so in an off-side position (31'). Groningen did not have much to offer in the first half. They had one major scoring chance as Hans Vonk dropped a high cross in an aerial duel with his fellow South-African Glenn Salmon. The rebound was for the Groningen striker, but the angle was too tight, so that Salmon hammered the ball into the side-netting.

Ajax took the lead almost immediately after the only phase in which the hosts were seriously dangerous. It was the breaking point of the game. 'Birthday boy' Ryan Babel (who turned 18) perfectly nodded a high Julien Escudé pass to the side for an onstorming Wesley Sneijder to calmly slot home: 0-1 (58'). 

Reasons to be satisfied at the start of the winter break... [Photo: Ajax.nl]

After that the hosts collapsed in no-time. Ajax's decisive second followed only six minutes later and was a product of the sometimes spectacular chemistry between Hatem Trabelsi and Mauro Rosales on Ajax's right flank: the Argentinian was launched and kept his eyes open, allowing Mitea to tap home at the far post: 0-2. Mitea himself set up Ajax's third, a goal very similar to the previous one: this time the Romanian had a free passage to goalkeeper Roorda over the left flank. His birthday gift to Ryan Babel was an unmissable chance: 0-3. Groningen were convinced that Ajax's second and third goals were off-side, but the TV footage had no mercy: they were not.

Ryan Babel's excellent performance on his 18th birthday deserves a special mention: the teenager uses his impressive physique very intelligently, was almost unbeatable in the air, very strong on the ball and remarkably 'grown-up' in his timing. Babel also is a perfect striker for the Ajax (4-3-3) system - and last but not least: he put the biscuit in the basket when he had the chance, first on Mitea's cross and a second time on a resolute Van der Vaart pass, which ripped Groningen's off-side trap to shreds and allowed Babel to beautifully chip the ball over goalkeeper Roorda: 0-4 (78'). The travelling Ajax supporters spent the last minutes of the game singing Happy Birthday to the striker. 

Two remarkable moments in the second half were Koeman's two substitutions: the first player to be brought on was Johnny Heitinga, who briefly disappeared from the spotlights due to a form-crisis and an injury. It was his first appearance since the game that was the low-point as well as the turning point of the first half of the season: the away game at Maccabi Tel Aviv on 03 November. "It was great to be back," said Heitinga, "I now enter the winter break with a positive feeling." The feelings of Ajax's second substitute on the day will be rather different. When Daniël de Ridder replaced Mauro Rosales in the 82nd minute the number one question was: was this De Ridder's last appearance for 'his' Ajax...?

The whopping 0-4 final score added to Ajax's excellent record in Groningen. The annual away game at Oosterpark Stadium always feels like a big one, but the last time Ajax lost a league game in Groningen was in 1985, so that today's win effectively marks the 20th anniversary of their unbeaten streak at 'Pride of the North'. The most striking statistic, however, is Ajax's amazing production at Groningen: eight out of the last ten Eredivisie visits to Groningen were won and Ajax scored 34 goals in those confrontations, a stunning average of 3.4.

The winter break also marks the start of Groningen's last year at their legendary home ground. They will move to a brand-new facility next winter and, depending on next season's fixture list, it may have been Ajax's last visit to the old bastion of Oosterpark, a real football ground a true football fan just had to love. It's the end of an era.

Ajax will go back in training on Tuesday 04 January to prepare for the second half of a season that may still have a lot of excitement to offer... (MP)

GOALS

• 58'  0-1  Wesley Sneijder
• 64'  0-2  Nicolae Mitea
• 74'  0-3  Ryan Babel
• 78'  0-4  Ryan Babel

Referee: Wiedemeijer
Yellow cards: De Jong, Escudé, Sneijder (Ajax), Elshot, Krstev (FC Groningen)
Attendance: 12,500

Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, De Jong, Escudé, Maxwell; Sneijder (66. Heitinga), Galásek, Van der Vaart; Rosales (82. De Ridder), Babel, Mitea.

FC Groningen line-up: Roorda; Elshot, Kruiswijk, Matthijs, Van der Linden (78. Fledderus); Buijs, Krstev (62. Drent), Florén, Van Gessel; Seedorf, Salmon (78. Tuyp).

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie games 2004-2005
• Ajax.nl: Match report in Dutch and English