Second round in sight after last-gasp win at Thun

2 (0) - 4 (1)
UEFA Champions League
Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Bern, Switzerland
Wednesday, 02 November, 2005

Ajax have the knock-out phase of the Champions League within sight after their spectacular, last-gasp win at FC Thun (2-4), the first road win in European competition for the Amsterdammers since 30 October 2002. At a sold-out Stade de Suisse, in the Swiss capital of Bern, the red and white took the lead twice (which, in all honesty, they hardly deserved), but came awfully close to dropping two or even three points. A stunning Nigel de Jong strike in stoppage time gave Ajax a win they have all reason to be extremely happy with, but can hardly be genuinely proud of.

The above paragraph quite accurately sums up the post-game thoughts and comments of Ajax boss Danny Blind, who sat down for the press conference looking like man who had just suffered a painful defeat. "I've sat down at this table a happier man, even after matches we lost. Simply because in those games our play made me feel hopeful. Today it did not. We've played very poorly tonight (...) People who know me will understand why I am not radiating joy here. I am the type of coach that looks at the football his team is playing, and I simply can't be satisfied with that tonight."

Well, Mr. Blind, that's football for you.

In the away game at Sparta Prague Ajax played very well, but were criticized in the press for failing to convert their many chances. In Bern the team got criticized for doing the exact opposite thing: they were mostly under pressure, but were (especially given their recent Eredivisie results) remarkably effective. Four goals in a very poor European away game... In the words of a triumphant Nigel de Jong, after the game: "Who ever said we can't score?"

Wesley Sneijder has made it 0-1 to Ajax. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

The two games against the Swiss over-achievers brought the results you may expect from a club of Ajax's status (six points, six goals), but the match in Bern gave Danny Blind (and the Ajax supporters) plenty of things to rack their brains over. The Amsterdammers completely failed to impose their will on an opponent that might have an admirable drive and a fantastic work-ethic, but is - quite honestly - hardly of higher quality than FC Groningen or RKC Waalwijk. The men of coach Urs Schönenberger were humbled in the Swiss league last weekend (a 1-6 stuffing by FC Zürich), but four days later Ajax really couldn't complain after their narrow escape from Switzerland's national stadium.

Blind's biggest worry was, for a change, not the striker (Yannis Anastasiou performed fairly well and scored his third goal in two Champions League games), but the defense: it was painfully clear that two excellent defenders (Grygera and Emanuelson) are not enough to make for an over-all solid defense line. The other two (Maduro and Heitinga; the latter played instead of an injured Hatem Trabelsi) marked their opponents so horribly poorly that the Ajax defense as a whole was nerve-wrackingly leaky throughout the game. In the first fifteen minutes the hosts could easily have scored twice. Thun's best player, lone striker Mauro Lustrinelli, simply walked away from Hedwiges Maduro on two occasions. Completely unmarked, right in front of Maarten Stekelenburg, Lustrinelli respectively shot and headed wide on pristine, sharp crosses by Gonçalves and Orman. Nelson Ferreira saw his dangerous free-kick take a deflection and go inches over the cross-bar of Stekelenburg's goal.

Ajax seemed frightened after these massive chances and seemed to instantly forget Blind's instructions: play dominantly, move around, choose for the most simple option, pass with confidence and (a special order to Hedwiges Maduro) step out of the defense when Ajax have possession, to become an extra midfielder. Instead, Ajax nervously retreated, so that the club from the Berner Oberland, working with a total budget that is roughly 50% of RBC Roosendaal's (and 30% of Thierry Henry's annual salary...), could actually look much better than they are.

What happened to Thun in the 27th minute of the game, was what happened to Ajax in so many games this season: the opposition (in this case: Ajax) capitalized on the very first proper chance they created. Yannis Anastasiou had the easiest of header chances on a perfect Urby Emanuelson cross from the left, but hit the fists of goalkeeper Jakupovic, who punched the ball to the edge of the penalty box, where Wesley Sneijder was waiting to pull the trigger. The midfielder hammered home, helped by a (minor) deflection off a defender's leg: 0-1 (27').

An undeserved lead, for sure, but - ironically - Thun could actually have been 0-2 down at half-time. In the 41st minute Hedwiges Maduro finally had the courage to go forward when Ajax had the chance to attack. He received the ball in midfield and decided to fire from more than 30 yards. His stunning long range screamer hit the post full-on. The only serious damage Ajax sustained in their poor first half was a yellow card for Tomás Galásek, who will be suspended for the decisive home game against his countrymen from Prague on 22 November.

Ajax's match-winner, Nigel de Jong, takes on a Thun defender. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Ajax knew that Thun had to take risks in the second half. Just before the break coach Schönenberger replaced a defender (Milicevic) with a second striker (Adriano). Ajax seemed to have a bit more control in the opening phase of the second half and created one big chance in the 53rd (shot Babel, save Jakupovic, rebound fired into the side-netting by Sneijder), but three minutes later the equalizer that Thun deserved was on the boards. Adriano demonstrated once again that the Ajax defense had more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Mauro Lustrinelli resolutely fired the Brazilian's thru-pass past Stekelenburg: 1-1.

The hosts smelled blood and the "Hopp Thun! Hopp Thun!" chants of the Swiss fans rolled from the stands, but before they knew they were a goal down again. Ryan Babel concluded Ajax's first high-quality, full-flow attack of the evening with a perfect cross from the left, which caramboled into the net via the legs of Yannis Anastasiou and unfortunate defender Armand Deumi: 1-2 (63').

Remarkably, their second goal did not inspire Ajax, but made them cave in even more. With the unstoppable Adriano, the intelligent Lustrinelli and inpredictable dribbler Andres Gerber as an extra substitute, FC Thun increased the pressure and started creating chances. John Heitinga saved his team with a desperate sliding in the 68th minute: he reached a dangerous, low cross a split-second earlier than the two Swiss strikers in his back. It was pretty much the only thing that Heitinga, arguably Ajax's weakest man, did right.

Almost inevitably, the Amsterdammers collapsed for the second time in the 74th minute. Heitinga was only one of the Ajax defenders that looked unconvincing at the very least when fullback Gonçalves penetrated the Ajax defense from the left, pulled back and saw Adriano tap home after a brief scrimmage in the Ajax goalmouth: 2-2.

Ajax were ready for the knock-out blow and seemed to crash to the canvas in the 84th minute, when Mauro Lustrinelli was (yet again) totally unmarked on an Andres Gerber cross. The Stade de Suisse already erupted and Maarten Stekelenburg was nailed to the ground as Lustrinelli placed his head against the ball, but the experienced Thun captain somehow managed to nod this 'sitter' wide of the far post.

It was the ultimate chance for the hosts -- and they paid the ultimate price for wasting it.

A few seconds after the game had pulled into stoppage time, headed for a result that would 'technically' not have been a bad one for Ajax, but 'morally' a very humbling one indeed, Ajax concluded their best attack of the whole game with a devastating K.O. punch. After a sophisticated one-two, straight into the heart of the Thun defense, Steven Pienaar pulled tha ball back to De Jong, who placed his left foot against it and saw it slam into the top corner from some 18 yards. A lucky shot, but a tremendously beautiful one: 2-3. Some 900 travelling Ajax supporters went berserk in the visitors section at the other end. A European away win! Finally!

Nourdin Boukhari, who was brought on in the 89th minute to witness the five most euphoric minutes of the evening, made things even more bitter for the brave home team, tapping the ball under Jakupovic after the devastated Thun defense had allowed Ajax to create one final scoring chance: 2-4 (90+4').

FC Thun vs Ajax was a crazy spectacle. A thoroughly entertaining match, that had pretty much everything that can make football such a wonderful game: passion, errors, chances, drama, several changes of course and a hatful of goals. Nevertheless, a few painful conclusions must be drawn: this was a confrontation between two of the weakest Champions League participants of this season. Not only FC Thun are a team with so many imperfections that a game against Chelsea or FC Barcelona could end in an absolute catastrophe; the exact same thing undeniably goes for Ajax.

The Amsterdammers have come very close to claiming the second slot in group B: a home win over Sparta Prague on 22 November would make it official, but even if that game ends in a draw it can hardly go wrong for the Amsterdammers. It says, in all honesty, nothing about the qualities of Ajax, but everything about group B of this season's Champions League, a group in which all four teams are at least ten points behind the league leaders in their respective domestic leagues. You could sarcastically say that it would be quite an achievement for Ajax to not finish second in this group, but that they gave it a very convincing try in Bern...

Sarcasm, however, is not going to help this fragile Ajax team, so let's go for the optimistic interpretation of the facts: Ajax have done themselves and Dutch football a major favour by winning this game. Ajax's UEFA coefficient is one the upgrade and (thanks to PSV, AZ and Heerenveen) The Netherlands are about to leapfrog Portugal and claim a third Champions League slot. Ajax will still be in 'Europe' after the winter break (if not in the Champions League, it will at least be the UEFA Cup) and will almost certainly strengthen their squad on the transfer market in January.

This was a good evening in troubled times. Ajax needed it. (MP)

GOALS

27' 0-1 Wesley Sneijder
56' 1-1 Mauro Lustrinelli
63' 1-2 Yannis Anastasiou
74' 2-2 Adriano
90+1' 2-3 Nigel de Jong
90+4' 2-4 Nourdin Boukhari

Referee: Hrinak (Slovakia)
Yellow cards: Galásek, Anastasiou (Ajax), Gonçalves, Milicevic, Ferreira (FC Thun)
Attendance: 30,919

Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga, Grygera, Maduro, Emanuelson; De Jong, Galásek, Sneijder (89. Boukhari); Pienaar, Anastasiou, Babel.

FC Thun line-up: Jakupovic; Orman (67. Gerber), Deumi, Milicevic (42. Adriano), Gonçalves; Ferreira, Hodzic, Aegerter, Bernardi, Leandro (81. Sen); Lustrinelli.