Greek champions fall to Ajax in tournament opener
|
|
|
|
3 (0)
- 2 (0)
Amsterdam Tournament
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Friday, 30 July, 2004
|
Of course, it's only a friendly pre-season tournament. But
it's a prestigious one and, moreover, it's
traditionally the weekend in which Ajax present themselves
to their home crowd for the first time in what is the
first major pre-season testcase against an esteemed,
international opponent. On such an occasion you don't want
to fail, which explains the smiling faces of the
Ajacieden after Ajax vs Panathinaikos. Yes, the
Amsterdammers looked good (albeit mainly in the second half)
and convincingly took a 3-0 lead against the reigning
Greek champions. A late brace of goals made
the result look better for the guests, but made no
difference for Ajax: three points for the win and another
point for each of the three goals scored were in the pocket.
That's how it works at the Amsterdam Tournament.
Wesley Sneijder in action against
Panathinaikos. [Photo: Gerard van Hees / Ajax.nl]
It was, admittedly, a game between two sides not yet
playing at full power. Panathinaikos have only just begun their
pre-season campaign (and so it showed, at times), whereas
Ajax boss Ronald Koeman announced beforehand that none of the
players who performed at Euro 2004 were going to play the full
90 minutes. Rafaël van der Vaart, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and
Zdenek Grygera spent the first half on the bench, while
Ajax (wearing the new, black away kits for European and cup
games) played with an 'all Belgian' forward line consisting of
18 year-old Tom De Mul, Wesley Sonck and Tom Soetaers.
All three of them were 'okay' in the first half,
but their efforts were not enough to seriously
threaten the Greeks. Apart from two noteworthy Wesley Sneijder
moments (a shot that grazed the cross bar and an
unsuccesful face-to-face encounter with goalkeeper
Galinovic) Ajax lacked the pace in the first half, which was a
dull affair and a suitable epilogue to the first game
of the night, a tedious 0-0 between River Plate and
Arsenal.
"The Greeks were well organized," Koeman said in explanation
of the lack of excitement before the break. "Similar to
the Greek national team, really. They hardly allowed us any
space or chances. But we've been in training longer - and
sometimes you could tell so, too."
The arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic made the difference. After
a few minutes in which the rhythm of the game was interrupted
by several substitutions on both sides, Ibrahimovic gave the
starting signal for a 10 minute tornado that won the game for
Ajax. The Swede did it in close co-operation with Wesley Sonck,
who sent Ibrahimovic on his way to the opening goal with a
beautiful backward 'heel-pass' that tore the 'Pana' defence
apart. Roles were reversed eight minutes later: this time
Ibrahimovic deserved almost all of the credit,
creating space for himself inside the penalty box and releasing
a diagonal shot which Galinovic failed to hold on to. The
rebound was an easy tap-in for Sonck, who netted his second
only two minutes later after Anthony Obodai had been pulled
down and Belgian referee De Bleeckere resolutely put the ball
on the penalty spot.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic's introduction
enlivened the game for Ajax. [Photo: Gerard van Hees /
Ajax.nl]
Finally, the Amsterdam Tournament of 2004 had come to its
first exciting eruption. The previous 145 minutes of
football did not deserve a larger audience than the meagre
25,000 or so in the half-full Amsterdam ArenA.
Attendance was never as low, in sharp contrast
to Sunday ('Day 2'), which is sold out to the last
seat.
In ten minutes' time Ajax had given its supporters what they
had come for - and goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont had hardly been in
trouble, in spite of the shaky and leaky defensive line in
front of him (Julien Escudé, in particular, had
a poor match). This changed in the dying minutes of
the game, in which a Joel Epalle shot took a decisive
and unfortunate deflection off Maxwell's leg. No chance
for Lobont. The Romanian, however, must have been very unhappy
about the way Panathinakos' second goal came to stand: Michalis
Konstadinidis was allowed to score into an empty net after
irresolute defending by Julien Escudé and fatal
hesitation to intercept by Lobont himself. A painful moment for
the goalie, who is involved in a man to man battle with Maarten
Stekelenburg. The latter will play Ajax's second tournament
fixture against Arsenal.
Ronald Koeman, meanwhile, said after the game that he
has now pretty much made up his mind. His starting team for the
new season is in his head, but as yet remains his little
secret. Curious press and fans had to make do with one
mysterious hint from the Ajax boss: "I have figured out
the line-up I will normally field. Sunday's line-up
against Arsenal will look more like that line-up than
today's." (MP)
GOALS
- 54' 1-0 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- 62' 2-0 Wesley Sonck
- 64' 3-0 Wesley Sonck (penalty)
- 76' 3-1 Joel Epalle
- 83' 3-2 Michalis Konstadinidis
Referee: De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Cards: none
Attendance: 25,000
Ajax line-up: Lobont; Obodai, De Jong
(46. Grygera), Heitinga (46. Maxwell), Escudé;
Galásek (69. De Ridder), Pienaar (46. Ibrahimovic),
Sneijder (46. Van der Vaart); De Mul, Sonck, Soetaers.
Panathinaikos line-up: Galinovic;
Munch (84. Bykowski), Morris, Konstadinidis (59. Scancel),
Henriksen; Mitu (46. Kotsios), Konstantinou, Amdric, Gonzalez;
Sanmartean (52. Epalle), Kirgiakos (72. Goumas).
Other result on Day 1: Arsenal FC vs River Plate
0-0
Table after Day 1:
- Ajax: 6 points
- Panathinaikos: 2 points
- Arsenal FC/River Plate: 1 point
Related Links:
