Oh, the glory! Ajax humble Feyenoord, 7-2 on aggregate
2 (0) - 4 (2)
Eredivisie Play-Offs, First Round
De Kuip, Rotterdam
Sunday, 23 April, 2006
It's almost embarrassing after such a nightmare of a
season, but the truth is that Ajax are now only a
couple of games away from the latter qualifying
round for the 2006-2007 Champions League. A two-legged
encounter with FC Groningen lies ahead after Ajax's second
spanking of arch-enemies Feyenoord in four days' time: 2-4,
making for a whopping 7-2 triumph on aggregate. The
Rotterdammers made a better impression than Ajax throughout the
season, but (not for the first time) it all ended in tears
and bitter, bitter frustration for the men from De Kuip.
Team captain and fan hero Dirk Kuyt cried his heart out after
the game, thousands of spectators left the
stadium early and no less than 800 Feyenoord fans
were arrested after the game... Feyenoord's pain was almost
tangible.
Beforehand, Feyenoord and their supporters seemed
to believe in their chances: an overwhelmingly aggressive
start and an early goal... who
knows? Perhaps Thursday's 3-0 defeat at the
Amsterdam ArenA could still be wiped out. For the first time
since his unexpected return as a 'super sub' Pierre van
Hooijdonk played from the start, with Sebastián Pardo
and Salomon Kalou on the wings and striker Dirk Kuyt
directly behind him as a 'number 10'. Ajax boss Danny Blind
fielded the same eleven as on Thursday. His four defenders were
to play one-on-one against Feyenoord's four forwards. Ajax
were not going to lean back.
On the score-sheet as usual: 'The
Hunter'. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
In the first 15 minutes everything went more or less
according to plan for Feyenoord, except for one thing: they
failed to convert the two early chances that were of such
crucial importance. Patrick Paauwe had a free shooting
opportunity from the edge of the box (5'), but fired straight
into Stekelenburg's arms. One minute later Kalou
gracefully slipped past Urby Emanuelson and pulled the ball
back to the near post, where Sebastián Pardo was
unmarked. An absolute sitter, from only a couple of
yards out. Parts of the home crowd already jumped up
cheering, but Pardo tapped the ball wide
and De Kuip cringed in misery: that was
it... that was the early chance they should have
converted...
90 minutes later the conclusion was simple: Pardo's
chance was arguably Feyenoord's only chance
to make the afternoon hot for Ajax. The flame
of Feyenoord's hope started to flicker almost immediately
thereafter. Their passing became inaccurate, it seemed like all
of their thru-passes were just a little bit too hard, Ajax
slowly but certainly took control over the game (taken by the
hand by a superb Tomás Galásek in midfield),
created their first chance (Rosales, 18') and, in the 33rd
minute, dealt the blow that knocked Feyenoord out.
Left fullback Pascal Bosschaart clumsily lost the ball to Mauro
Rosales, who deftly slotted home: 0-1 (33'). Feyenoord now
required five goals in the remaining hour or so. It
was over.
Feyenoord boss Erwin Koeman reacted by immediately replacing
his only real man-marker (Ron Vlaar) with an
extra midfielder (Nick Hofs). Koeman's shaken team had not
yet recovered from Ajax's opening goal and did not seem
ready for such an opportunistic substitution. For a minute
or three Feyenoord's defense (in which Serginho Greene was
now the only central man) paid too little attention to
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. A fatal mistake. Mauro Rosales
gave a simple thru-ball and away was Huntelaar, who waited 'til
goalkeeper Lodewijks left the goal-line, then superbly chipped
the ball into the far side netting, 'Bergkamp style': 0-2
(40'). Thousands of Feyenoord supporters immediately decided
that they didn't want to witness this tragedy anymore, and left
De Kuip...
Just before half-time Salomon Kalou demonstrated just how
devastated Feyenoord were at this point, when the hosts
suddenly got their best chance of the game.
Van Hooijdonk fired into Stekelenburg and pulled the
rebounding ball back to Kalou, who could almost blow
the ball across the line, with Stekelenburg already beaten
and lying on the ground. The Ivorian,
however, managed to tap the ball against the post of the
deserted Ajax goal, from about two yards out. This day
simply had 'disaster' written all over it for Feyenoord...
Mitea returned to Ajax-1 action
after almost nine months
of
rehab (and he scored immediately!) [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
A couple of minutes earlier the first bad news of the
day had arrived for Ajax: Mauro Rosales, who scored against
Feyenoord at home and away, had to leave the pitch injured and
was replaced with Angelos Charisteas. Rosales' muscular injury
is not too bad as such, but might leave the Argentinian
sidelined on Wednesday, when Groningen visit the Dutch
capital.
Substitute Charisteas played a key role in what
was possibly the most fluent and beautiful attack the
Ajax supporters saw in the 2005-2006 season. Only six minutes
of the second half had ticked away when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
sent a beautiful cross-pass to Markus Rosenberg, who
knew that Charisteas was racing past him behind his
back and passed the ball 'in the blind'. Charisteas
slipped passed his man and delivered a beautiful cross
with his left, which Nourdin Boukhari nodded home from
close range: 0-3 (51'). What a terrific goal. This was
the football that Ajax used to be known for, a long long time
ago...
A few minutes earlier Markus Rosenberg's screamer from the
edge of the box hit the post behind Lodewijks. In this phase,
the first 15 minutes after the break, it seemed like the
freewheeling visitors were going to slaughter Feyenoord,
who were now trailing 6-0 on aggregate, but luckily for the
home side they scored a consolation goal a few minutes
later. A cross from Boussaboun landed on the forehead
of Pierre van Hooijdonk, who nodded it back to Dirk Kuyt,
whose 'Kung Fu' volley was almost turned
around post by Maarten Stekelenburg... but not quite: 1-3
(58'). It was possibly the first ever time that the travelling
Ajax fans 'celebrated' a Feyenoord goal at De Kuip, cheering
for Kuyt's goal condescendingly.
Danny Blind salutes the
travelling Ajax supporters aftrer the
match, in an otherwise empty Kuip. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
How unbelievable... Feyenoord had no injuries or suspensions
when the play-offs started, whereas Ajax were without
starters such as Trabelsi, Grygera, Sneijder (all injured) and
Pienaar (suspended). In the Groningen games Ajax
will also have to do without Hedwiges Maduro, who badly
twisted his ankle in the 68th minute and had to be stretchered
off. After the game it became clear that
Maduro will be out for up to
four weeks. He is likely to miss both Groningen
games and the 07 May Gatorade Cup final against
PSV.
For this particular game it didn't really matter anymore.
Ajax were on a roll. Danny Blind decided to take off
Markus Rosenberg and bring Nicolae Mitea for his first
Ajax-1 appearance since 31 July 2005. The speedy
Romanian graced his return with a goal in the 80th
minute: a diagonal screamer from inside the area. Dirk
Kuyt's fine second goal (once again on a Van Hooijdonk
assist) couldn't save the day for Feyenoord
or Kuyt himself, who cried bitter tears
after the final whistle. Feyenoord want to keep him,
but Kuyt isn't too sure: "I am tremendously happy at this club,
but I really want to play in the Champions League at some
point. I'm a winner, and over here I'm not winning
anything."
"We gambled and we lost," said Erwin Koeman after the game.
"Ajax deserve all the credit for this. They were simply the
better side over the two games."
By the time Danny Blind came out of the dressing rooms for a
TV interview on the pitch, De Kuip was already empty, except
the jubilant away end. "Danny Blind, who doesn't know him?
Danny Blind, Danny Blind is a true Ajacied!" sang the
travelling fans. After which the whole of The Netherlands could
see on TV how an emotional Danny Blind had to stop the
interview and turn away from the camera. It's been a rough ride
for the Ajax legend, who seems on his way out, regardless of
the outcome of the play-offs. These two historic wins over
Feyenoord meant the world, and might actually make for a
euphoric ending to what was in many ways the club's worst
Eredivisie campaign since 1965... (MP)
GOALS
- 34' 0-1 Mauro Rosales
- 40' 0-2 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 51' 0-3 Nourdin Boukhari
- 59' 1-3 Dirk Kuyt
- 81' 1-4 Nicolae Mitea
- 87' 2-4 Dirk Kuyt
Referee: Bossen
Yellow cards: Collen, Van Hooijdonk
(Feyenoord)
Attendance: 30,470
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Boakye,
Heitinga, Vermaelen, Emanuelson; Galásek, Maduro (69.
Lindenbergh), Boukhari; Rosales (456. Charisteas), Huntelaar,
Rosenberg (71. Mitea).
Feyenoord line-up: Lodewijks;
Collen, Greene, Vlaar (37. Hofs [53. Boussaboun]), Bosschaart
(46. Drenthe); De Guzman, Kuyt, Paauwe; Pardo, Van Hooijdonk,
Kalou.
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