Ajax book useful 0-4 win over HHC, but lose Mitea
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Pre-Season Friendly
Sportpark De Boshoek, Hardenberg
Thursday, 13 July,
2006
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Ajax boss Henk ten Cate wanted tougher opposition, and
that's exactly what he got at Sportpark De Boshoek, home of
Hoofdklasse ('Top Class') amateur outfit HHC
Hardenberg. Ajax also played them almost exactly
one year ago and, then too, HHC gave Ajax a harder
time than any other amateur sparring partner. This time
Ajax scored two goals in each half: 0-4. However, the
encounter was overshadowed by the hamstring injury that Nicolae
Mitea picked up, which may not be as bad as it looked
initially, but will keep the Romanian sidelined for weeks
nonetheless.
Football coaches... They're never satisfied. HHC Hardenberg
were a relatively tough nut to crack, but were
criticized by Ten Cate after the game for being too rash and
committing too many fouls. Mitea, for that matter, was also
'kicked out of the game'. "The opposition was alright
today, but the hosts did overstep the mark sometimes," the Ajax
boss said. "Let's just say they were a little
over-enthusiastic. We don't have a team that
will kick the opponent back and that shouldn't happen
in a game like this. Perhaps the referee should have pulled out
the yellow card, just to make a statement. And we should have
'punished' them by scoring another four or five goals."
Robbert Schilder continued his solid play. [Ajax.nl]
Scoring a few times extra would have been possible: the
game was very different from last year's encounter. At the
time, HHC were 1-0 up until the 54th minute, after which Ajax
turned the game around and netted three extra goals in stoppage
time. It was a win that the Amsterdammers (oh,
the embarrassment!) hardly deserved. This time, HHC once again
had their chances (two very good ones in the opening phase
and a mighty shot that hit the underside of the cross-bar,
shortly after Ajax's opening goal), but over-all Ajax
played better than they did last year and could have
scored a hatful, especially in the second half.
The red and white (still without the injured Roger,
Vermaelen and Krohn-Dehli) took the lead after 14 minutes
on a very pretty goal by Edgar Manucharyan, who aimed well and
rocketed the ball into the upper ninety. After that it was
time for a 'KJH show': the striker doubled the score from the
penalty spot before adding two more in the second half: the
first one was a well-taken rebound after a Kenneth Perez shot
was blocked in the penalty area (51'), the second one a good
header on a corner kick by Nicolae Mitea (66').
As usual, the second half saw many substitutions. Seven
'bench boys' saw action. The most remarkable substitution must
have been that of Rydell Poepon. The striker from the Ajax
youth was brought on for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the 76th
minute, wasted an enormous scoring opportunity by shooting too
frivolously and... was immediately taken off again. Apparently,
Henk ten Cate wanted to bring a message across... "I
didn't like it at all, but it was a very important
'learning moment' for me," were Poepon's slightly mysterious
words.
Mitea sustained a hamstring tear
that will sideline him for several weeks. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Nicolae Mitea was already in the dressing-room at that
point. He became the victim of a pretty harsh tackle in the
71st minute and left the pitch in agony. It looked terrible and
for a while the Ajax delegation seriously seemed to fear an
injury as bad as the one Mitea sustained during last
year's Amsterdam Tournament (and kept him sidelined until the
latter weeks of the 2005-2006 season). When Ajax phyiso Ricardo
de Sanders finally came out of the dressing room he had
relatively good news: Mitea did tear his hamstring, but it is
not torn off completely. He will be out for weeks, rather than
months.
This weekend, after Saturday's friendly at VV Bennekom, Ajax
will drive back to Amsterdam. As usual, a lot of physical work
was done in De Lutte. Ten Cate: "In many ways, training
sessions are more important than matches at this point."
(MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
GOALS
- 14' 0-1 Edgar Manucharyan
- 37' 0-2 Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar (penalty)
- 51' 0-3 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 66' 0-4 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Referee: unknown
Cards: none
Attendance: 4,500
Ajax line-up: Vermeer (46. Gentenaar);
Ogararu, Stam, Lindenbergh (57. Vertonghen), Emanuelson; Gabri,
Manucharyan (62. Schilder), Perez; Rosales (76. De Mul),
Huntelaar (76. Poepon [86. Charisteas]), Mitea (71.
Sarpong).
HHC Hardenberg line-up: Berger;
De Visscher (46. Drenthen), Doornbos (46. Hollak), Jonker,
Jurgens (46. Scheepmaker), Kocks, Kroeze (69. Hogeterp),
Offringa (76. Pullen), Redder (46. Tieltjes), Steggink (46.
Wiggers), Voshaar (76. Wind).
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