Ajax stun De Kuip with win in dying minutes:2-3
|
|
|
|
2 (0)
- 3 (0)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
De Kuip, Rotterdam
Sunday, 17 April, 2005
|
Ajax are back into the race for the second slot in
the Eredivisie (and a ticket to the qualifying round
of the Champions League) after a spectacular, but well-deserved
last-gasp win in the 'Game of Games' of
Dutch football: the 'Classic' against Feyenoord in
Rotterdam. The Amsterdammers left the fans of their supremes
arch-enemies stunned by scoring twice in the last five minutes
of the game: 2-3. Ajax's goals did not elicit a roar
of joy from the away end this time. The section for visiting
Ajax supporters remained empty: 1,600 Amsterdam fans were
banned from the stadium and sent home by the Rotterdam mayor
for wrecking the interior of their 'combi trains'.
The sting was in the tail in Rotterdam. Ajax were the
clearly dominant side throughout the game, which remained
goalless in the rather tepid first half and was deadlocked
at 1-1 until the 80th minute. An unfortunate defeat
seemed ahead for Ajax as Feyenoord's topscorer, Dirk
Kuyt, received the ball inside the Ajax penalty
box, turned, saw Hedwiges Maduro slip and released
a well-aimed, low shot to make it 2-1. An explosion
of ecstacy from the home fans followed. Feyenoord
finally seemed on their way to a home win over
their arch-enemies, for the first time since 10
December 2000 and only the second in Ajax's last
ten visits to De Kuip.
Shinji Ono en Karim Saïdi
try to stop Ryan Babel. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
But Ajax were not beaten yet. Only five minutes later Zdenek
Grygera slipped through Feyenoord's off-side trap and
diagonally volleyed Hatem Trabelsi's cross past Gabor
Babos and into the far side netting: 2-2 (85'). The
Czech's spectacularly beautiful equalizer hit Feyenoord like a
hammer. Knowing that they needed a win in order to stay in
the race for the second slot, the Rotterdammers sent all of
their troops forward for a last minute corner kick.
They paid a high price for it. Substitute Yannis
Anastasiou only had to rocket the ball forward
to send Ajax's other 'sub', Nourdin Boukhari, on a
free passage to Babos. De Kuip held its breath, sighed in
relief as Boukhari failed, but was plunged into
mourning as Hatem Trabelsi picked up the ball and passed
it to an unmarked Hedwiges Maduro, who clinically fired into
the top corner: 2-3 (90'). All that remained for the
Rotterdammers was devastation. The TV footage of
a father and son in Feyenoord shirts, the
first with tears in his eyes, the latter crying his heart
out in his dad's lap, summed it all up.
An interesting statistic - and a painful one for the
Rotterdam side: before the game Ajax and Feyenoord had played
each other in Rotterdam 48 times since the start of the
Eredivisie. The balance was perfect: 16 wins for Feyenoord, 16
wins for Ajax and 16 draws. Thanks to today's memorable triumph
Ajax are now more succesful on Rotterdam soil than the hosts
themselves, a record to which Feyenoord aren't even close in
the Amsterdam editions of the 'Classic'.
Zdenek Grygera volleys home for
his stunning equalizer. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Both coaches had some problems to deal with before the game.
Danny Blind missed no less than six regulars due to
ankle injuries (Van der Vaart, Charisteas, Rosales,
Galásek, Lindgren and De
Ridder). Blind fielded the same line-up that
beat AZ last weekend, but had very little options on the bench,
which included Tom De Mul for the first time in many
months. Ruud Gullit, meanwhile, had a fit
squad but two suspended players: Bosschaart and
Hofs. Gullit was forced to improvise when
the two players who pretty much played in their
positions (Basto and Ghaly) had a nasty and unfortunate head-on
collision after ten minutes. Ghaly had to be brought to
hospital; Basto was stitched up and could carry
on.
The first half hour made perfectly clear how the two teams
were going to play today: Ajax dominated and played on
Feyenoord's half of the pitch, while Feyenoord leaned back,
focusing on stopping Ajax rather than on playing football
themselves and speculating on a succesful moment of their top
drawer forwards, Kuyt, Kalou and Castelen. Ajax were in
complete control, but did not create much real danger. At the
other end Feyenoord were almost completely harmless.
The only chances Ajax managed to create were three dangerous
shooting opportunities. Goalkeeper Gabor Babos turned
attempts from Hedwiges Maduro (19'), Nigel de Jong (23') and
Wesley Sneijder (42') around the post. At the other end Dirk
Kuyt had the moment Feyenoord were hoping for: he headed home
in the 29th minute, but - according to referee René
Temmink - he did so after pushing over Zdenek Grygera. Goal
disallowed. It was the highlight of an otherwise pale first
half.
Julien Escudé beats Dirk
Kuyt in the air. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
After the half-time break it was the same story in the
second half: Ajax were the clearly better and
over-all more dangerous team, but the danger of Kuyt (22
goals) and Kalou (18 goals) was always there.
Both would add a goal to their total in the second half, from
two Feyenoord chances out of nowhere. In the 48th
minute Bart Goor launched the man from Ivory
Coast by heading the ball forward from
midfield. Kalou picked up the 'thru-header', was faster
than Julien Escudé and kept his cool in front
of Hans Vonk: 1-0.
It underscored a remarkable difference between the two
arch-enemies from Holland's largest cities: Ajax's superiority
as a team has been a given most of the time
in the past two decades, but Feyenoord have had the superb
goalgetters in recent seasons that
Ajax are apparently unable to find: Kuyt and Kalou
now scored 42 goals between them. Their predecessors, Pierre
van Hooydonk and Jon Dahl Tomasson, scored a similar number of
goals as a couple. Van Hooydonk alone netted 52 times in two
seasons. The last time Ajax's topscorer finished the season
with more than 20 league goals was in 1997-1998, when Shota
Arveladze hit for 25. The most productive Ajacied of the
current season is Ryan Babel with 6
goals...
Ajax needed a few minutes to recover after Kalou's opening
goal, which was followed by a ten minute
phase (the only of the game) of Feyenoord dominance.
After that, Ajax took control again. It immediately led to the
equalizer: Steven Pienaar dribbled towards the penalty box from
the right flank and provided Nigel de Jong with a smart little
thru-pass, which the born Amsterdammer diagonally slotted past
Babos: 1-1 (57').
Ajax increased the pressure even more and were now
outclassing Feyenoord, albeit still without
creating any open scoring chances. The Amsterdammers just
had a goal disallowed (correct call; Julien Escudé
pushed Babos before allowing Maduro to tap home) and
missed what was possibly their best scoring chance of
the game (Ryan Babel) when Dirk Kuyt showed that he is the
'Gerd Müller of the Lowlands': not very stylish, but
tremendously dangerous in the penalty box, where he wrestles
and turns until his target is in sight. It marked the
start of a truly spectacular and unforgettable apotheosis to a
game that will, sadly, be remembered as one marred by
fan violence. Ajax chairman John Jaakke said after the
game that Ajax's win was 'overshadowed' by it.
"After we went 2-1 down I no longer counted
on a result," said Danny Blind, "but we really deserved this
win. I am pleased to recognize the things in our play
that I told the boys about, the things we've
practiced. To be honest with you I would also have been
happy about that if the result had been 2-2 or even 2-1."
Feyenoord coach Ruud Gullit had to admit that Ajax deserved
the three points. "This was a true Hitchcock
scenario," Feyenoord's Amsterdam coach said, "I just
couldn't believe it was going to happen, but it happened. This
is a bitter disappointment."
Having played their best game of the year (against AZ) and
having booked their most prestigious win of the season (at
Feyenoord) a happy ending to a miserable season seems in
the making for Ajax: the Amsterdammers have leapfrogged AZ for
the time being, after the Alkmaar side's disappointing 1-1 draw
against NAC Breda. AZ still have a game in hand, but Ajax
are closing in. In order to make it a real happy
ending, however, Ajax will need Amstel Cup glory as
well, for starters in Thursday's semi-final at Willem
II. Good weeks for
Ajax... finally. It makes it even sadder
that mayors, clubs and politicians will discuss the
possibility this week to ban away fans from 'The Classic'
forever. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl, Feyenoord.nl, Studio Sport
GOALS
- 48' 1-0 Salomon Kalou
- 57' 1-1 Nigel de Jong
- 80' 2-1 Dirk Kuyt
- 85' 2-2 Zdenek Grygera
- 90' 2-3 Hedwiges Maduro
Referee: Temmink
Yellow card: De Graaf, Saïdi
(Feyenoord), Maxwell, Trabelsi (ajax)
Attendance: 48,000
Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, Grygera,
Escudé, Maxwell; De Jong, Maduro, Sneijder (83.
Boukhari); Pienaar (88. Anastasiou), Babel, Mitea.
Feyenoord line-up: Babos;
Östlund, Gibbs, Saïdi, Basto; Castelen, Ghaly (11.
Pardo [77. De Graaf]), Ono, Goor; Kuyt, Kalou.
Related Links:
