Ajax squeak past Roda on last-gasp Anastasiou strike

Yannis Anastasiou has not made the difference for Ajax in too many games since he moved to Amsterdam in February of this year. The Greek striker was almost never a starter and hardly ever turned a game around as a substitute. Ironically, two of his most memorable performances for Ajax were two home games against his previous club: Roda JC. He netted twice against his former team-mates in March, leading Ajax to a convincing 4-2 home win. In his second ArenA game against Roda he surprisingly started as Ajax's centre forward (Wesley Sonck started on the bench). The Greek was utterly unconvincing for 89 minutes, but ended the game as the match winner: his 89th minute strike brought Ajax a last gasp win (1-0).

The most discussed man prior to the game was, without a doubt, Roda striker Arouna Koné. Ajax intended to land the Ivorian as Zlatan Ibrahimovic's successor, hours before the closing of the transfer window on 31 August. According to some media reports Ajax offered Roda a transfer fee plus Yannis Anastasiou, who was supposed to return to Kerkrade on loan. But Koné failed his medical test and Ajax had to decide not to sign the player. The exact reason is still a mystery. Roda tested Koné in the weeks thereafter and claim that nothing's wrong with him. How ironic... Koné could have played as an Ajacied tonight and Yannis Anastasiou as a Roda man... It was the other way round - and Anastasiou, of all people, won the game. For Ajax.

The question is: was this game a glorious triumph for Yannis Anastasiou? Did the Greek prove that Ajax don't need Ibrahimovic or Koné?

Not exactly.

Last weekend FC Den Bosch were simply too weak to cause Ajax any trouble, but the games against Juventus and Roda made painfully clear that Ajax do miss Ibrahimovic very, very much indeed. Both Wesley Sonck and Yannis Anastasiou have so far been unable to make up for the loss. Against Roda, Ajax boss Ronald Koeman benched the struggling Belgian and gave Anastasiou the nod, only to see him struggle equally badly although it must be said that he did what he could in his sometimes very rough physical battle against defender Mark Luijpers. Koeman also had to do without 'injury cases' Tomás Galásek (who may be available for Tuesday's Champions League game at Bayern München), Maarten Stekelenburg and Zdenek Grygera. The latter will be available in Munich; Stekelenburg certainly won't.

Wesley Sneijder fails face to face with Roda goalkeeper Kujovic. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Ajax's play was promising during large stretches of the first half. Immediately after the ArenA had observed a minute of silence for André Hazes (Amsterdam's tremendously popular folk hero and singer of deeply sentimental pub ballads died this week) Ajax stormed forward energetically, hardly allowing the yellow and black visitors to even cross the middle line. The undisputed best man on the pitch in the first half was Nourdin Boukhari, who constantly slipped past defender Bodor as if he weren't even there, and pumped one cross after the other into the penalty box. And that's where the trouble started. Roda JC always seem to have tall, physically strong, solid defenders, who generally are hardly impressed by high crosses from the flanks.

It was typical that Ajax's first real chance (after 26 minutes) did not come from the wings, but through the middle: a one-two in which Van der Vaart and Anastasiou were involved brought Wesley Sneijder face to face with goalkeeper Kujovic. Sneijder failed. Otherwise? Ajax's dominance was enormous in the first half (possession must have been 75% or more), but the number of real scoring chances was much less impressive.

Roda coach Wiljan Vloet fielded a team that was remarkably offensive in theory (strikers Koné, Sergio and Cristiano were in the starting line-up), but the Limburg outfit hardly ever came near Bogdan Lobont in the first half. This changed after the break. In fact, in the first seven minutes of the second half Roda created more danger than Ajax had created in the entire first half. First, a Cristiano header went just wide. Then Sergio slipped through the Ajax defense to come face to face with Bogdan Lobont. The Romanian goalkeeper saved, but was already beaten as Kevin van Dessel stepped up for the rebound. Van Dessel tapped it wide. A few minutes later Johnny Heitinga had to clear a Koné attempt off the goal-line.

The guests played with considerably more self-awareness in the remainder of the game, while Ajax seemed more afraid than before to concede a goal. Roda's chances apparently made the Amsterdammers understand that this game could actually be lost.

However, knowing that both Feyenoord (4-0 against RBC Roosendaal) and PSV (4-0 against Heerenveen) had won their games earlier on the night, Ajax were forced to go for the three points. Ronald Koeman replaced both of his wingers (Boukhari and De Mul) with their faster, more 'explosive' competitors (Mitea and Rosales, who made his home début for Ajax), but both had a fairly unfortunate performance. Wesley Sonck, meanwhile, replaced Rafaël van der Vaart as a 'number ten', but (once again) totally failed to make an impact. He was even booed at by the grumbling ArenA crowd when he wasted a shooting opportunity by wildly firing wide. The Ajax supporters seemed to lose their patience with both Sonck and Anastasiou. The F-Side started a cynical chant, aimed at the Ajax board: "Why don't you sell another one?"

Ajax's play, meanwhile, got worse and worse. Wesley Sneijder came close to scoring with a free kick and a long range shot, but otherwise? There seemed to be no-one in the penalty box, no-one to do something with the crosses and thru-passes.  "Everyone's got a striker, but we don't!" the F-Side chanted. Ajax were actually lucky that Sneijder also did his defensive duties: in the 77th minute he assisted Bogdan Lobont by clearing a Roda corner of the goal-line.

And just when no-one expected it anymore, Yannis Anastasiou's moment arrived. The Greek received the ball on the edge of the penalty box, with a defender in his back, turned and released a low, but very precisely aimed shot, which surprised goalkeeper Kujovic and rolled into the corner: 1-0 (89'). The ArenA erupted, more out of relief than anything else.

"Apart from a few minutes against ADO Den Haag I hadn't played an official game for Ajax in five months," the match winner said, "so this was a relief for me. One of the most important moments in my career." His coach, Ronald Koeman, added: "No-one could have thought of this scenario. But I wouldn't want to say we did not deserve this win."

All's well that ends well, as they say. Ajax did not lose any points in the last game before the big fixture that the team can now start focusing on: the Champions League road game at Bayern München in Germany. Well over 3,000 Ajax supporters will make the trip to Bavaria, where Ajax expect to be able to notch a result. (MP) 

GOALS

• '89  1-0  Yannis Anastasiou

Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: Vicelich, Brouwers (Roda JC)
Attendance: 48,370

Ajax line-up: Lobont; Obodai, Heitinga, De Jong, Maxwell; Pienaar, Sneijder, Van der Vaart (75. Sonck); De Mul (52. Rosales), Anastasiou, Boukhari (60. Mitea).

Roda JC line-up: Kujovic; Bodor, Brouwers (89. Cissé), Luijpers, Filipovic; Van Dijk, Vandenbroeck (24. Vicelich), Van Dessel; Sergio, Cristiano, Koné.

Related Links:

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