Ajax ask for trouble... and get it: 1-1 against NAC
1 (1) - 1 (0)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 26 March 2006
When Ajax USA decided to build this year's Ajax USA
Rendezvous in Amsterdam around the home games against
AZ (09 April) and Vitesse (12 April) there was a risk that
these games would be of very limited importance, due to the
brand new post-season play-offs in the Eredivisie, in
which the numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5 on the table battle for
one berth in the third qualifying round of the 2006-2007
Champions League. In other words: finishing 2nd or 5th... it
doesn't really make any difference.
There is 'good' (?) news for the Ajax USA travellers:
the AZ and Vitesse home games will not be
unimportant. Absolutely not. Ajax dropped two vital points in
their home game against the league's #14, NAC Breda (1-1),
were leapfrogged by FC Utrecht, dropped to 5th place and
are now only two points ahead of Heerenveen and three of
Groningen. The situation is very, very perilous
indeed. One mistake and Ajax can crash out of the
top five, with the 34th and last league game in
sight...
Ryan Babel played from the start.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
That's the painful situation, after a game that started so
perfectly for Ajax. Only 90 seconds had ticked away
when 'The Hunter' did his weekly thing again: his
backward header, on a deft cross from Mauro Rosales, surprised
goalkeeper Davy Schollen and landed in the back of the
net: 1-0 (2'). Were the struggling yellow and black from
Breda already beaten? Was it the overture of an big
win for Ajax? NAC won only one league game in
Amsterdam in the past 40 years, so why not?
The ArenA crowd watched sluggishly, on what was the
first sunny spring day of 2006 in the Dutch capital, but
the first half of the encounter was actually quite spectacular.
Ajax created several major chances up front, but NAC also
had their chances. Ajax started in the ultra-offensive
formation that forced Roda to their knees
in extra time on Wednesday: Rosales and Ryan Babel
(his first start since 27 November 2005!) on the wings,
Huntelaar in the middle and Rosenberg racing around, directly
behind his back. The latter, in particular, could have
decided the game at an early stage: his first unmarked
header opportunity (16') went inches wide of the top
corner, his spectacular second header attempt (32')
hit the inside of the post before bouncing straight into
the hands of goalkeeper Schollen.
On both of Rosenberg's headers Schollen was nailed to the
ground, but the NAC goalkeeper showed his talents in the
23rd minute, when Tomás Galásek fired from long
range like only he can. Schollen superbly punched the Ajax
captain's cannonball out of the corner.
Ajax played with three on-form strikers (Rosenberg, Babel
and Huntelaar), but - at the other end - without any
real man markers in defense. In default of Grygera,
Heitinga (both injured) and Thomas Vermaelen
(suspended) Ajax's duo in the heart of defense was
Maduro/Lindenbergh, two players who primarily regard themselves
as midfielders. Moreover, Maduro has only just recovered from a
viral infection and is not entirely back to normal yet. He had
a true stinker against Roda JC and, against NAC, ran out
of fuel after one half and had to be replaced.
Not exactly a rock-solid defense -- and so it
showed. NAC got their first major chance in the 10th
minute, when winger Julian Jenner suddenly found himself
face-to-face with Maarten Stekelenburg. The Ajax
goalkeeper bravely threw himself in front of Jenner's
attempt. It wasn't the only chance for Jenner (who,
according to many, would be a perfect winger for Ajax...). In
the 21st minute he nodded wide, completely unmarked and from
close range, on a cross from the right. The
half-time score was 1-0, but it could have
been 3-2.
Markus Rosenberg had a few major
chances in the first half, but was a
bit unlucky: his header hit the inside of the post. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
In the second half (with Boakye instead of the exhausted
Maduro) the first major chance was for Ajax (Nourdin Boukhari
failed, eye to eye with Schollen), but the best one for NAC. In
the 62nd minute, former Feyenoord 'boy wonder' Leonardo Vitor
Santiago showed up in front of Stekelenburg and pushed the ball
under the Ajax goalie, only to see Emanuel Boakye come to
rescue just before the ball trickled into the deserted Ajax
goal.
In the latter half hour of the match Ajax got worse and
worse. The team seemed exhausted and poorly concentrated. It
felt as if they were lulled to sleep by the visitors, who
wasted yet another 24-carate opportunity to level the score in
the 66th minute: Julian Jenner had another man to man
duel with Stekelenburg. Once again the on-form Ajax goalkeeper
kept his team upright. Indeed: NAC Breda created an unlikely
number of open scoring chances at the Amsterdam ArenA.
Just when it seemed like NAC were not going to score
after all and about to bow their heads, the team of head-coach
Cees Lok got what they deserved. How ironic: NAC missed a
hatful of 'easy' chances, only to equalize from a situation
that wasn't even a chance. With ten minutes left on the clock
David Mendes da Silva (who spent the 2002-2003 season on loan
with Young Ajax) received the ball on the edge of the penalty
area and pulled the trigger. His pristine shot slammed
home via the underside of the cross-bar: 1-1 (79') - and NAC
most definitely deserved it.
Both teams could have won the game in the dying minutes.
First, Evander Sno and Maarten Stekelenburg both went for
the ball and collided, after which Sno needed one second to
find out that the ball was lying behind his back, waiting for
the final push into an empty Ajax goal. That single second was
just enough for Boakye to clear. At the other end,
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar came close to once again saving the day
with a sort of 'half' bicycle kick. This time his attempt was
inches too high and landed on the roof of NAC's goal.
"We should have decided it in the first 20 minutes," said
Danny Blind, shaking his head in misery. "We had the space and
the chances for it. Were we too nonchalant? Perhaps we lacked a
little bit of power. Due to all our injuries I've been forced
to ask a lot from a very small group of players. On
Wednesday we played 120 minutes against Roda. Perhaps that's
why we didn't have the power to push through."
Once again the Ajax boss had to come up with an
excuse... Blind reacted remarkably grumpily when a
journalist asked him about his position: will Ajax allow him to
stay? The question is not as stupid and irrelevant as Blind
suggested. Board and directors have stood up for the
young head-coach throughout the season, but what if
Ajax crash out of the top five and even fail to qualify
for the play-offs? After yet another loss of points, this
scenario is most definitely not unthinkable anymore...
(MP)
GOALS
- 02' 1-0 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 79' 1-1 David Mendes da Silva
Referee: Jol
Cards: none
Attendance: 47,700
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Maduro (46. Boakye), Lindenbergh, Juanfran; Galásek,
Rosenberg, Boukhari; Rosales (70. Schilder), Huntelaar, Babel
(84. Charisteas).
NAC Breda line-up: Schollen;
Elshot, Derijck, Van Gessel, Stam; Sno (90. Petö), Demir,
Slot; Mendes da Silva, Leonardo (76. Vonlanthen), Jenner (87.
Rigters).
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