Ajax hit rock bottom in Tel-Aviv: 2-1 stumble at Maccabi
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UEFA Champions League
Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel
Wednesday, 03 November, 2004
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Can Ronald Koeman still 'hot-wire' this pathetic, drifting
Ajax team? After the embarrassing Champions League defeat at
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (2-1) -- another heavy blow to
the broken spirit of a clueless team -- the Ajax boss
stated that he still believes that 'things can instantly turn
around'. However, the head-coach's apathy and
resignation on the bench while Ajax played one
of their most appalling games of football since the dismal
'Jan Wouters era' (1999-2000) spoke volumes. Ajax are
sliding downhill at increasing speed. Even a UEFA
Cup slot after the winter break, which seemed safe
after the home win over Maccabi, is now in serious peril.
A typical scene: Wesley Sneijder
loses out to Liran Cohen. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
During the game already, the unfolding tragedy brought
back memories of last season's painful knock-out on Club
Brugge's 'ice-skating rink' in Belgium. The key
difference: that was the last (and for that reason fatal) group
game. Ajax can now comfort themselves with the thought that
they still beat the Israeli champions on head-to-head result
and that a UEFA Cup slot (or even a post-winter Champions
League slot...) can still be pocketed. Stressing that, however,
would be a shameless refusal to face the facts. Last season
Ajax booked two fine home wins in the Champions League and were
unlucky to lose at Celta de Vigo. The team had qualification
for the second round in their own hands until the
very last game.
How different is this season. Ajax have been utterly
incapable to cope with the opponents in group C, except in the
home game against what may well be the weakest outfit
in this year's competition. Would this Ajax team be able to
beat Club Brugge or Celta at home, or stay alive in a Champions
League group until matchday 6...? Hell, no. No-one can
seriously claim that anymore after three European defeats in
four games, including two highly embarrassing ones.
From the very first seconds of the game, Maccabi vs Ajax had
'disaster' written all over it. Ajax did not enter the
pitch of Israel's national stadium in Ramat Gan with the
determination of a team that wants to win, or with the
offensive intentions one would expect from the Amsterdam club.
This was not a team determined to beat their inferior
opposition. Ajax were shaky, palefaced and painfully
mediocre cannon fodder, anxiously trying not to concede a
goal. The Amsterdammers nervously passed the ball around on
their own half of the pitch, which - by the way - seemed
sticky and slow. They almost paid the price for it as early as
in the 11th minute, as Barukh Dego's header (on Maccabi's first
corner kick of the game) hit the post.
Resignation on the Ajax bench.
Ronald Koeman bows his head. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Ajax played with Zdenek Grygera instead of an injured
Maxwell, and Anthony Obodai in midfield instead of Wesley
Sonck. Tactical changes, but at this point in time it
hardly makes a difference, as almost every Ajacied is
currently involved in a hopeless fight against himself. The
only Ajacieden who at least seemed to have
the intention to take initiatives were Wesley
Sneijder and Mauro Rosales. The others? They were stand-offish,
to say the very least, or downright dreadful: Anthony
Obodai, Nicolae Mitea, Steven Pienaar and Johnny Heitinga,
in particular, hardly did anything right.
Ajax's play slightly improved in the last 15 minutes before
the break and in the 34th minute the Amsterdammers created
their only real chance of the first half: Hatem Trabelsi passed
to Mauro Rosales, who sent Rafaël van der Vaart on his way
to goalkeeper Strauber. The Ajax captain's attempt was
turned around the far post.
Nevertheless, a tragedy was in the air from the outset,
for the simple reason that Ajax never looked like they were
going to win. After a 15 minute break and a cup of tea the
players of Maccabi Tel-Aviv seemed fully aware of this. Twelve
minutes into the second half the Israeli champions had
dealt Ajax two brutal blows in the face: 2-0. The man to
punch the Amsterdammers against the canvas was Barukh Dego, who
capitalized on two defensive errors so amateurish that even the
greatest optimist had to admit that this Ajax team is
going nowhere.
Dego's main assistant in red and white was Johnny Heitinga
(only one of the Ajax youngsters whose development has
not only stopped, but reversed), who first lost an
aerial duel with Addo, then was a sleepwalking bystander as
Dego fired past Stekelenburg, who did not look very convincing
either: 1-0 (49'). Only eight minutes later an
erratic backpass by Heitinga (it wasn't his first!)
ushered in Maccabi's decisive second goal.
Stekelenburg reacted too slowly and fired the ball
against Dego's leg in a wild attempt to clear.
The ball caramboled straight into the empty goal: 2-0
(57').
It was over. There was absolutely no way in the world that
Ajax were going to score twice, even though they created a
handful of chances in the 33 minutes that remained. Wesley
Sneijder had an open header opportunity from close range
on a Grygera cross, but demonstrated that he's hardly ever
touched a ball with his head before. His timing was terrible
and the ball went yards wide. In the 66th minute
Sneijder's shot grazed the post and Wesley Sonck (who,
ironically, had one of his better games as a substitute for
Anthony Obodai) saw his header go inches wide.
The last half hour of the game was a torture: 30 long
minutes to realize that even a UEFA Cup berth is no
longer guaranteed. Even Daniël de Ridder's goal in
the 88th minute (he managed to deflect a shooting
attempt by Wesley Sneijder into the far corner) did not
inspire Ajax. The Amsterdammers never came close to
equalizing in stoppage time. In fact, substitute Zitoni could
have made it 3-1 in the 94th minute, but saw his shot take a
deflection off an Ajax defender and fly inches over the
cross-bar.
Seconds later the final whistle sounded and (while Maccabi
celebrated their historic first ever Champions League win,
secured with their first ever Champions
League goals) the Ajacieden could hide in
the dressing rooms, only to find out that Alessandro
Del Piero had made the defeat even more painful by netting
a last minute winner for Juventus at Bayern München. A
Juventus win was exactly the result Ajax needed, had they
beaten Maccabi. They would have been completely back
in the race. This historically embarrassing night, however,
made it downright ridiculous to even mention hibernation in the
Champions League. Ajax simply don't belong in this
competition.
After the game the Ajax delegation
pathetically attempted to look on the bright side: Ajax
beat Maccabi on head-to-head result and perhaps an
upset will be possible in Turin, where Ajax will play an
already qualified Juventus side on 23 November. It sounded
painfully futile. The only reason why the 2004-2005 season can
not yet be put on record as a disaster is the fact that it's
not even halfway yet. But Ajax can no longer camouflage their
own decay: they are a team without a leader, without a striker,
without belief and without the qualities to make any kind of
impact against eleven more or less professional footballers
from Israel. Each tiny little step towards
recovery (a good win over Maccabi, or even a shaky win
over NEC) is followed by two or three leaps back.
Maccabi vs Ajax was not Ajax's first poor
performance of the season, but for the first time it felt
like there is no way back for Ajax - not even with a new,
powerful striker. It somehow felt like the Koeman
era (which started as the 'era of new hopes'
but steadily developed into an era of slow decay and
false hopes) came to an end in Ramat Gan, the
village of Israel's national stadium, just outside of
Tel-Aviv. (MP)
GOALS
- 49' 1-0 Barukh Dego
- 57' 2-0 Barukh Dego
- 88' 2-1 Daniël de Ridder
Referee: Hrinak (Slovakia)
Yellow cards: Pienaar (Ajax)
Attendance: 18,054
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Heitinga, De Jong, Grygera; Obodai (58. Sonck), Pienaar (70. De
Ridder), Sneijder; Rosales, Van der Vaart, Mitea (54.
Boukhari).
Maccabi Tel-Aviv line-up: Strauber; Moosa,
Giovanini, Strool (71. Reis), Abo-Siam; Mishaelhof, L. Cohen
(77. Pantsil), T. Cohen, Mesika; Dego, Addo (86.
Zitoni).
Other Group C result:
FC Bayern München vs Juventus 0-1 (
UEFA.com match report)
Group C standings:
- Juventus: 4-12 (4-0)
- FC Bayern München: 4-6 (5-2)
- Ajax: 4-3 (4-7)
- Maccabi Tel-Aviv: 4-3 (2-6)
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