'Classic' ends in draw despite Ajax superiority

"Satisfied with our performance, not satisfied with the result," was Ronald Koeman's conclusion after the first 'Classic' of the season, thereby summing up the feelings of some 49,000 others in attendance of the enjoyable confrontation between supreme arch-rivals Ajax and Feyenoord. The Rotterdammers came to Amsterdam as the favourites for the win, but Ajax were the clearly better side in an atmospheric Amsterdam ArenA. In the end, however, Feyenoord booked the result they came for: 1-1, so that the winner of Ajax vs Feyenoord was, ironically PSV, who extended their lead by beating Willem II (1-0).

Ajax started in a 4-4-2 line-up, in which Nigel de Jong replaced unlucky John O'Brien at left back and Tomás Galásek returned to midfield, in favour of left winger Nourdin Boukhari. Ajax played without real wingers, although Mauro Rosales (fielded as the second striker next to Yannis Anastasiou) frequently showed up on the right flank. Koeman's choice for a 4-4-2 was a tactical decision, dictated by the knowledge that the Rotterdammers had to do without both of their preferred fullbacks, Chong-Gug Song and Pascal Bosschaart (both suspended). Their respective replacements, Christian Gyan and Patrick Mtiliga, were deemed Feyenoord's "weakest links" by Koeman. The Ajax boss wanted to force Feyenoord to let the duo build up.

The tactics worked. After some early Feyenoord dominance (culminating in the only dangerous moment of the opening phase: a well-taken first-time volley by Bart Goor, blocked by Hatem Trabelsi) Ajax took the initiative after some fifteen minutes - and pretty much kept it for the rest of the game. Arguably the best men on the pitch were Tomás Galásek, who tackled, controlled and coached in midfield as if he'd never been away, and Mauro Rosales, Ajax's best purchase in years. Once Ajax were in possession the latter moved to the right flank, where Patrick Mtiliga was going through an absolute nightmare against the fast and high skilled Argentine.

Feyenoord needed fouls in the first half, several of which were remarkably harsh, yet not serious enough for a booking according to the extremely weak referee, Mr Pieter Vink. Steven Pienaar was kicked out of the game: he had to be replaced early (by Wesley Sneijder). Minutes later Van der Vaart went down while the ball was elsewhere. Vink had apparently noticed a Karim Saïdi foul (an elbow?) and took his time to lecture the defender, but did not show a card. As early as in the 34th minute Koeman had to replace a second player: Nigel de Jong left the pitch blood-faced after an aerial duel with Gyan. Johnny Heitinga took over. It was ironic that not a single Feyenoord player was booked. The first man to see a yellow card was Ajax's Julien Escudé for a foul not nearly as harsh as the ones on Pienaar. The French defender, by the way, had an excellent game, both defensively and as the architect of many Ajax attacks.

It took Ajax 24 minutes to create their first real scoring chance (cross Trabelsi, unmarked header opportunity Van der Vaart, turned around the post by Babos). Three minutes later the Amsterdammers took a well-deserved lead: Mauro Rosales set up an attack over the left flank, deftly passed to Van der Vaart, who flicked on to Yannis Anastasiou. The Greek chipped it to the right, where Mauro Rosales arrived nicely on time for a clinical, diagonal finish. A superb attack with a superb little player as the key figure: 1-0 (25'). 

 
Mauro Rosales' slots home for Ajax's opening goal. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

The home side had several 100% chances to double their lead before half-time: one minute after Rosales' goal Gabór Babos had to stretch to stop an Anastasiou header inches before the goal-line and in the 36th minute Rafaël van der Vaart suddenly had a chance to tap home from close range, as a low Wesley Sneijder cross unexpectedly slipped through Patrick Paauwe's legs. The enormous chance surprised Van der Vaart, so that his push wasn't hard enough to beat Babos. Just before half-time, finally, Saïdi fumbled the ball against the post of his own goal on one of Ajax's remarkably dangerous corners.

In spite of Ajax's superiority the score at half-time was 1-1. Without having created a real scoring opportunity the ball was suddenly in Hans Vonk's net in the 44th minute, as Salomon Kalou smartly protected the ball for Dirk Kuyt and no Ajax defender came to assist. The ball bounced on the grass twice allowing Kuyt to beautifully fire home with a well-aimed volley into the far side netting: 1-1 (44'). 

The equalizer was rather undeserved at that point, although Feyenoord certainly weren't outplayed in the first half. In the second this was the case in certain phases, in spite of the fact that Ajax seemed less organized after Nigel de Jong's departure and did not create as many scoring chances as in the first half. Yannis Anastasiou suddenly had one, as Rafaël van der Vaart surprisingly stepped over a low cross. The Greek was surprised by the sudden opportunity and did not capitalize. In the 55th minute Patrick Paauwe assisted his goalkeeper by fearlesslly diving in front of Wesley Sneijder's shot from the edge of the penalty area. Hungarian goalkeeper Gabór Babos, normally one of the Eredivisie's best, let more than just one Ajax corner slip through his fingers, making for chaos in Feyenoord's goal-mouth on two occasions.

The best chance for Ajax, however, arrived in the 83rd minute, as Mauro Rosales (who received no less than 82% of the votes for Man Of The Match) slipped passed Mtiliga once again, cut to the middle and released a thundering shot, which was spectacularly turned around the far post by Babos.

As for Feyenoord: they had precisely one moment of real danger in the second half, as a Bart Goor corner kick grazed the forehead of a completely unmarked Salomon Kalou at the far post. The cross was an inch too high for the Ivorian, so that it trickled a yard wide. Remarkably, Feyenoord failed to create a single scoring chance through field play, which is a compliment to Julien Escudé, Zdenek Grygera (who had a few erratic passes, but was flawless defensively) and Johnny Heitinga, who's going through a rough period (benched by Ronald Koeman and dropped by Holland boss Marco van Basten), but stood tall in the 'Classic' as a substitute.

Even on counter-attack the Rotterdammers were mostly harmless, especially in the last ten minutes, in which their defense was close to breaking point and every Feyenoord attempt to counter-attack ended halfway the pitch due to inaccurate passing. Ajax, no doubt about it, deserved the win, but failed to capitalize on their chances so that Dirk Kuyt's strike, scored out of a half chance, pretty much out of nowhere, eventually won Feyenoord a point. 

More than anything else, the 'Classic' of November 2004 will be remembered as a rather cluttered, but enjoyable one. It was Mauro Rosales' first. "The atmosphere was kind of similar to the 'Classics' of Rosário I used to play with my former team. You can feel that the crowd is more fanatical than they usually are. You need that as a player (...) I really start feeling better and better now. I now know what the team's strongest points are. We have to work with those. We're improving."

Added coach Ronald Koeman: "We played better than in recent weeks. If we carry on like this it will be a matter of time until we start closing in." It should be possible for Ajax to start the 'quest for the top' convincingly in the upcoming games against the bottom teams of the Eredivisie: De Graafschap (away) and RBC Roosendaal (at home). Two wins and more than just one or two goals may well give Ajax the decisive push into the right direction: back to form. The 'Classic' showed that the Amsterdammers are on their way back, even though it did not yield the desired result. (MP)

GOALS

• 27'  1-0  Mauro Rosales
• 44'  1-1  Dirk Kuyt

Referee: Vink
Yellow card: Escudé, Sneijder, Boukhari (Ajax), Buffel (Feyenoord) 
Attendance: 49,557

Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, Grygera, Escudé, De Jong (34. Heitinga); Pienaar (17. Sneijder), Galásek, Van der Vaart (68. Boukhari), Maxwell; Rosales, Anastasiou.

Feyenoord line-up: Babós; Gyan, Saïdi, Paauwe, Mtiliga; Castelen, Ghaly (87. Loovens), Ono, Goor; Kalou (81. Buffel), Kuyt. 

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie Games
• Ajax.nl: match report in Dutch and English
• Feyenoord.nl: match report in English