Ajax ease past Willem II and into semi-final: 0-2
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KNVB Cup, Quarter Final
Willem II Stadium, Tilburg
Wednesday, 28 February, 2007
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Behind one of the goals at Willem II Stadium was a massive
banner, which read: "
21 April 2005: Willem II - Ajax 1-0. Will history repeat
itself today...?" The answer to that question: no. The ironic
thing is: Ajax had a very good game on 21 April 2005,
but 'forgot' (or 'refused') to convert one or two of
their countless scoring chances. Even in front of an empty goal
(Nicolae Mitea) they somehow couldn't get it
in. Today, Ajax's play was not much more
than 'alright', and there weren't as many scoring chances,
but the Amsterdammers were a lot more effective: 0-2, a
fairly simple win. Ajax are in the semi-finals of the KNVB
Cup.
"All in all, we were never really in trouble," said coach
Henk ten Cate after the game. "You could see we are a bit
tired, though. This was our third game in seven days. All three
of them were played on very heavy, wet pitches, and we
finished one of them with ten men. All of that is starting to
take its toll a bit."
Nicolea Mitea saw some rare
first-team action against Willem II. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Ajax surely didn't look tired in the first half hour of the
encounter. The Amsterdammers, who were without George Ogararu
and Ryan Babel (injured), but with Urby Emanuelson
(recovered from injury), were more determined than their
Tilburg opponents and enjoyed almost 70% possession in the
first 30 minutes. Perhaps the stormy
wind helped a bit: it blew them straight towards
goalkeeper Maikel Aerts. Ajax goals were inevitable and the
first one appeared on the score-board after 15 minutes: Zdenek
Grygera's ace thru-pass put Klaas-Jan Huntelaar face to face
with Aerts. The striker slipped past the keeper and
slotted home from a tight angle: 0-1.
In the minutes thereafter Ajax could already have killed the
game. Five minutes after the opening goal, Wesley Sneijder
provided John Heitinga with a perfect cross from the right. The
defender was beautifully hanging in the air at the far post and
only needed to nod home, but his header went
diagonally wide of the face of goal. The hosts,
meanwhile, were surprisingly apathetic and totally failed
to create any danger, or even build a decent
attack, until the latter 15 minutes of the first half, in
which Ajax shifted to a lower gear and lost their focus a
bit. Maarten Stekelenburg briefly lost his footing in the 41st
minute, just when a Willem II corner kick came sailing in. It
was the only moment of panic of the first half, in which
Ajax should already have wrapped things up.
The only other moment of 'panic' was when Ajax captain Jaap
Stam started rubbing his hamstring and walked off the field,
shaking his head. It looked worrying, but Henk ten Cate's
post-game words were reassuring: "Jaap told us before the game
that his hamstring was a bit painful. We knew it. He wanted to
give it a try, but we decided to replace him out of
precaution. I have good hopes that he will be back soon."
Hedwiges Maduro replaced the Ajax skipper, who gave his
captain's armband to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
Wesley Sneijder. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
A lead of 'only' one goal... Willem II were outplayed in the
first half, but still alive as the game pulled
into the second half, which started with the only phase in
which the hosts genuinely seemed to believe in an
upset. All of a sudden there were chances: an
enormous one for Saïd Boutahar, who came face to
face with Stekelenburg from the right, but saw the
Ajax keeper turn his shot around the post, and another one for
Ajax loanee Rydell Poepon, who was given a free passage by
Imschoot, but was denied by Stekelenburg, who - in this
very brief phase - kept his team upright.
Ajax recovered quickly enough, brought on Kenneth Perez and,
surprise surprise, Nicolae Mitea, who was out of the
picture for a long time. The Amsterdammers almost
immediately started to create chances again. The best one
was wasted by Nicolae Mitea, after good work from Tom De Mul.
The Romanian left winger was totally unmarked and could
basically fire home any way he wanted to, but he fired straight
into Aerts.
Ajax's decisive second goal finally arrived in the 80th
minute. A corner kick was poorly cleared, after which Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar's volley was decisively flicked on with the head by
John Heitinga: 0-2, and that was it. The only noteworthy fact
from the latter ten minutes of the encounter? No less than
three Ajax players picked up totally unnecessary and rather
daft yellow cards when the game was already won. It is starting
to become a typical Ajax habit: so far this season, the
Amsterdammers collected no less than 82 bookings in all
competition. No less than six Ajacieden were sent off. A club
record and not a statistic to be proud of.
Oh well, whatever. Ajax are in the semi-final of the KNVB
Cup, unlike PSV, who got seriously hammered at NAC Breda
(3-0). In the Eredivisie, however, the Eindhoven side still has
a comfortable seven point lead. Ajax's
chase will continue on Sunday, with a home match against
Heerenveen. (MP)
GOALS
- 15' 0-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 80' 0-2 John Heitinga
Referee: Van Egmond
Yellow cards: Bælum (Willem
II), Leonardo, Perez, Maduro, Mitea (Ajax)
Attendance: 11,000
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga, Stam
(39. Maduro), Grygera, Emanuelson; Gabri, Sneijder, Davids; De
Mul (79. Perez), Huntelaar, Leonardo (55. Mitea).
Willem II line-up: Aerts; Wau (46.
Imschoot), Bælum, Hill, Janse; Van der Struijk, Kargbo,
Boutahar; Poepon (88. Messoudi), Cristiano, Hadouir (77. Den
Ouden).
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