Ajax in cup final after narrow escape against Roda: 4-1
1 (0) - 1 (0),
4-1 a.e.t
Gatorade Cup
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Wednesday, 22 March, 2006
On
22 March 2006, around 22:50 CET, players, coaches and
travelling supporters of Roda JC found out how Ajax felt
on 23 April 2003, around 22:35 CET.
They thought they'd made it, that they would be celebrating a
0-1 win over Ajax at the Amsterdam ArenA in about 15 seconds,
that they were going to advance to the final of the Gatorade
Cup and, most importantly, that they were about to qualify
for the UEFA Cup after all, at the end of a disappointing
season.
However, as
every football team will experience sooner or later: injustice
exists...
Referee
Braamhaar added four minutes of stoppage time. The seconds were
ticking away: 93:42... 93:43... 93:44... Even with five
strikers on the pitch Ajax's attacks in the dying
minutes were hardly more than a miserable excuse for a
final offensive. They never looked like they were going to
score. 93:47... 93:48... 93:49... Juanfran's long throw lands
inside the penalty box. The ball is too high for
Charisteas and bounces on the grass, towards Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar. Defender Jan-Paul Saeijs pushes himself
into the striker's back. And Huntelaar, in a split
second, decides to go for what is arguably the most spectacular
and beautiful way to shoot: the Dutch call it an
omhaal, the Germans a Fallrückzieher,
the English a 'bicycle kick'.
'The
Hunter' jumps up, swings his right boot into the air,
backwards, over his own head -- and he fires. The ball
goes out of reach of goalkeeper Kujovic and slams into the far
side netting. Huntelaar can't have seen it himself. Did I
score? Is it in? The answer comes from the stands, in the
form of an orgasmic eruption of noise, a hysterical, exploding
roar: YES, Klaas-Jan, YES! It's in! It's a goal! You saved
your team! You did it again! It's 1-1, ten seconds before the
final whistle!
Markus Rosenberg duels with
Jan-Paul Saeijs. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Roda
players fall over and bury their faces in their hands.
Devastated. This is how cruel and unfair football can be. They
were so close... and they would have deserved it, too.
Technically speaking, purely physically, the men in yellow and
black manage to get back up on their feet for 30 minutes of
extra time. Metaphorically or mentally speaking, however, they
can't get up anymore. They stand up, but are already
K.O.
After 30 minutes of extra time the
score is 4-1 to Ajax. As if it makes sense. Ryan
Babel graced a fine performance with two splendid goals. Only
four minutes into extra time he received the ball from the
excellent Angelos Charisteas, and demonstrated his
specialty: cutting to his right and firing into the
near-post corner: 2-1 (95'). One minute after the teams
had changed halves for the latter 15 minutes of football of the
evening, Babel wrapped it up on a quick counter-attack over the
left flank. He was launched, rushed towards Kujovic and fired
home via the goalkeeper's body: 3-1 (106').
In between Babel's goals Roda
actually seemed to equalize. Edrissa Sonko was offside on
Cissé's low cross. When Olaf Lindenbergh deflected the
pass and tapped it into his own goal the linesman's flag was
already up (and the man was right). Very shortly after Babel's
3-1, Angelos Charisteas showed that he is not only
an very good footballer, but also a real team player and
an altruistic person: after great work in the box he tapped the
ball wide to Huntelaar, allowing him to tap his
second and Ajax's fourth into the net: 4-1 (109'). Charisteas
deserved 90% of the credit.
All's well
that ends well. On Sunday 07 May, Ajax will find
themselves in De Kuip in Rotterdam, for the final of
the Gatorade Cup against PSV, who beat Louis van
Gaal's AZ in the other semi-final (2-0 after extra time). The
extra time euphoria almost made the Ajax support forget about
the skullnumbingly boring and embarrassingly poor 93 minutes
and some 49 seconds that preceded Huntelaar's
equalizer.
Ajax were
absolutely terrible throughout regulation. They created
precisely one major scoring chance: after only 9 minutes
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar had an unmarked header opportunity on
a superb cross by Mauro Rosales. It was an absolute sitter, but
'KJH' missed, although it must be said that his nod
towards the low corner seemed perfect. Goalkeeper Kujovic
turned it around the post in spectacular fashion. An
outstanding save. The only other noteworthy moment
from Ajax was a fine action by Markus Rosenberg, who
picked up the ball from the left and nicely cut to the centre,
but rocketed straight into Kujovic's arms.
These two
moments were pretty much everything that Ajax
did right. Rosenberg and Huntelaar, on-form since the
winter break, were struggling against Roda's well
organized defense. Their two central defenders (Jan-Paul Saeijs
and the terrific Pa-Modou Kah) were flawless and in complete
control. Roda, the Dutch Cup winners in 1997 and 2000, slowly
became sassier, as their belief in an unexpected triumph
increased. Just before half-time they had their first
major scoring chance: Estonian international Andres Oper
suddenly had a free passage, but was denied by Maarten
Stekelenburg (who blocked Oper's attempt with his body)
and Juanfran, who'd followed and whacked the loose ball
out of the deserted goalmouth.
In the
second half Ajax got worse - and Roda got
better. Ajax's misery was best illustrated by Hedwiges Maduro,
who'd had the flu for a few days and played as if he
was still shivering with fever. Maduro made no less than
three major defensive mistakes in the first 20 minutes
of the second half. The first two times he lost the ball
Stekelenburg could come to rescue. The third time it
was bingo for Roda. Maduro wanted to pass the ball back to his
goalkeeper, but only grazed the ball with his boot, giving
Andres Oper a free passage: 0-1 (61').
Danny Blind
reacted by taking off Boukhari and young Vurnon Anita (the only
remaining teenager in the starting team as Trabelsi, Juanfran
and Maduro returned), replacing them with Charisteas and -
his first appearance since 19 February - Tomás
Galásek. In the 76th minute Blind brought Maduro's
complete off-day to an end by replacing him with Ryan Babel, so
that Ajax entered the latter 15 minutes of the game in what
looked like a 3-2-5 formation, with Huntelaar
and Charisteas in the centre, Rosenberg directly behind
them and Rosales and Babel on the wings. The subs
(Charisteas and Babel) were more convincing than the starters
(Rosenberg and Huntelaar), but unable to make a real
difference: Ajax created absolutely nothing. The best chances
in the latter 15 minutes were for Oper (header, inches wide,
80') and Cissé (shot from a tight angle, punched
wide by Stekelenburg, 84').
Then came
the 4th minute of stoppage time... and everything was
different.
Danny Blind
was self-critical after the game and protected the man of
the almost fatal 61st minute backpass: "Hedwiges wasn't
fit, but I took the risk and played him. I am very glad
that it all ended well." The Ajax boss also felt for
his colleague, Roda head-coach Huub Stevens. "I know what this
must be like for Huub, seeing UEFA Cup qualification go up
in smoke with only a few seconds left to play. I feel
sorry for him."
As for
Ajax: the chance that they have hereby qualified for the UEFA
Cup is precisely as big as the chance that PSV
will clinch the Dutch championship some time soon (a
chance of 99.99%). It's ironic: the Amsterdam club
are having a nightmare of a season, but they can still win the
Dutch Cup and qualify for the Champions League. One
thing's for sure, though: if they continue to play like they
did against Roda they will end up with nothing
more than the UEFA Cup berth they clinched today.
(MP)
GOALS
- 61' 0-1 Andres Oper
- 90' 1-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 94' 2-1 Ryan Babel
- 106' 3-1 Ryan Babel
- 109' 4-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Referee: Braamhaar
Yellow cards: Huntelaar,
Lindenbergh, Juanfran, Trabelsi (Ajax), Lachambre (Roda
JC)
Attendance: 26,449
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Maduro (76. Babel), Vermaelen, Juanfran; Lindenbergh, Anita
(60. Galásek), Boukhari (60. Charisteas); Rosales,
Huntelaar, Rosenberg.
Roda JC line-up: Kujovic; Senden
(98. Leemans), Saeijs, Kah, Lachambre; Cziommer, Van Dijk,
Bodor; Sergio (90. Cristiano), Cissé, Oper (83.
Sonko).
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