Dodgy penalty call fatal for unlucky Ajax: 1-0
1 (1) - 0
(0)
Eredivisie
Philips Stadium, Eindhoven
Sunday, 23 October, 2005
During the press conference after PSV vs Ajax at Eindhoven's
Philips Stadium coaches Danny Blind and Guus
Hiddink hardly reflected on the match as a whole: all
questions and comments were about the decisive moment, as early
as in the 9th minute of the game...
Blind: "The story of this game is the story of a decision by
referee Vink in the 9th minute. It was an incorrect decision,
we know now. Completely wrong. He took it very resolutely,
but in my opinion he was in a position where he could never see
it."
Hiddink: "With regard to Danny Blind's
thoughts about the penalty call: I agree with him. I don't
want to distort the truth. His analysis was clear and I
copy it."
What happened? PSV's right forward, Jefferson
Farfán, penetrated the Ajax penalty area. Ajax's left
fullback, Urby Emanuelson, tackled. Farfán seized
the opportunity and went to the grass. A dive. No doubt
about it. According to most radio and TV reporters
Emanuelson did not even touch the speedy Peruvian striker. But
the 'man in black', Mr Pieter Vink, had a different
opinion: he blew his whistle and pointed to the
spot. Belgian midfielder Timmy Simons converted
clinically. Some 85 minutes later, when Vink's final whistle
sounded, it was still the only goal.
Steven Pienaar takes on former
Ajax man Michael Reiziger. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
A defeat in Eindhoven... That's not an unusual thing
for Ajax, to use an understatement. The last time Ajax won at
Philips Stadium was precisely eleven years ago today, on 23
October 1994 (1-4). Since that day there were five draws and
five PSV wins, which the Eindhoven outfit deserved in
almost every case. Today was a different case. Ajax were well
organized, dominant and determined in Eindhoven, and
would most definitely have deserved a better result. Thanks to
Mr Vink's questionable call, however, the
Amsterdammers were overtaken by events by the 10th
minute.
Ajax surprisingly started without Tuesday's 'hero of the
day' (Yannis Anastasiou) but with Ryan Babel as the centre
forward. Mauro Rosales started on the right wing, so
that Steven Pienaar became the next player to give it a
try on the left wing. It must be said that Pienaar performed
really well, in spite of the fact that he played out of
position. As for Ryan Babel: he was the best 'number nine'
Ajax have had so far this season. The youngster has repeatedly
said in the media that he does not feel happy on the
wings and that he is a central striker. In Eindhoven
he proved his point, unfortunately not by scoring, but
definitely by getting every other aspect of the '#9
job' right.
Babel could have scored in the 23rd minute. It
was Ajax's best chance of the game: after one of his
aggressive runs over the left flank Urby Emanuelson pulled
the ball back to Babel, who had to fully stretch in
order to touch the ball and tapped it just over Gomes'
goal.
Ajax were the dominant side in Eindhoven, but it must be
said that the number of real chances for the Amsterdammers
was rather small: after Babel's chance there were
modest first half opportunities for Nigel de Jong
and Wesley Sneijder, followed by two real chances for the
same players in the second half: Nigel de Jong's attempt on a
Rosales pass was cleared off the goal-line by Ibrahim Afellay,
whereas Wesley Sneijder's 86th minute shot from inside the area
adequately turned around the post
by goalkeeper Gomes.
PSV created a similar number of chances, especially in
the latter minutes of both halves. Youngster Afellay could
have made it 2-0 just before half-time (he hit the
side-netting) and Arouna Koné missed two of the
greatest chances of the whole game in the dying
minutes of the match, when Ajax were attacking desperately
and had to take risks.
And that was it, pretty much, as far as the excitement in
front of both goals is concerned. It shows that PSV vs Ajax
wasn't too much of a breath-taking game. PSV
actually played surprisingly defensive,
counter-attacking football in front of their own crowd.
Their counter-attacks were, by the way, not as dangerous
as they usually are, thanks to good positioning and resolute
defending by (especially) Hedwiges Maduro and a truly superb
Zdenek Grygera. Coach Guud Hiddink admitted that his
team hardly created anything, but pointed out that the
reigning Dutch champions have had a tremendously hard (and
extremely succesful) week: top league games against AZ (3-0)
and Ajax (1-0), plus a Champions League visit to AC Milan,
where PSV notched a hard-fought, but very satisfying 0-0
draw.
Ajax, meanwhile, were unusually solid in defense, determined
and sufficiently creative in midfield, but (there we go
again...) simply too powerless upfront. This time the problem
was not that loads of chances were wasted, but the accuracy of
the last pass. Ajax were better than PSV,
until the penalty area, where a solid wall of PSV
defenders waited for them. Ironically, three out of
four of those defenders were former Ajax players:
Reiziger, Lamey and Ooijer...
Hatem Trabelsi duels with PSV's
American, DaMarcus Beasley. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
And so, the 'man of the match' (as in: the most important
man of the game) was eventually referee Vink, who gave Timmy
Simons the 'assist' for the only goal of the
game. Vink could have shown both Steven Pienaar and
Wesley Sneijder the red card: a frustrated Pienaar kicked
Ibrahim Afellay early in the second half (Vink did not see
it), whereas Sneijder brought a PSV player down from
behind. He got the yellow card for it, which means
that Sneijder will be suspended for Friday's home
game against Heerenveen.
The winner of Ajax vs PSV was, once again, the home side.
End of story. The coaches agreed PSV weren't great, that
Ajax had been a bit unfortunate and that the penalty should not
have been given. But that's just post-game talk. What counts is
the result: 1-0 to PSV. It is not the only painful fact:
Ajax have now lost 13 points in 9 games, have won less
than 50% of their matches, scored only 1.66 goal per game
on average so far and have a goal-balance of a meagre +4.
They are 8 points behind PSV and 7 behind AZ and Feyenoord (who
also lost this weekend: 2-1 at RKC Waalwijk). The year
2005 was Ajax's least productive year ever, when it comes
to goalscoring.
Painful facts, but - given the 13 points' damage Ajax
have sustained so far - the gap with the top of the table is
not even that big, and their play was more
than acceptable once again. Next week they will meet
another Eredivisie side way too low on this
week's Eredivisie table: Heerenveen. The Frisians are
supposed to be one of Holland's 'best of the rest' but find
themselves at a disappointing 12th slot. Spicy detail: if the
Dutch press are to be believed, Heerenveen striker Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar might be wearing an Ajax jersey next time
he plays at the Amsterdam ArenA... (MP)
GOALS
- 10' 1-0 Timmy Simons (penalty)
Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: De Jong, Sneijder, Emanuelson
(Ajax), Alex, Reiziger (PSV)
Attendance: 34,700
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Grygera, Maduro, Emanuelson; De Jong, Galásek, Sneijder;
Rosales (71. Rosenberg), Babel, Pienaar.
PSV line-up: Gomes; Reiziger (70.
Addo), Ooijer, Alex, Lamey; Simons, Culina (58. Beasley),
Simons, Afellay; Farfán, Koné (90. Vennegoor of
Hesselink).
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