Ajax embarrass themselves in home draw with Excelsior
2 (2) - 2 (2)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 18 February, 2006
Excelsior broke a club record last weekend by losing their
tenth straight league game. An interesting statistic for the
Rotterdam small-timers, with a road trip to the Amsterdam ArenA
coming up next. It was, for Ajax, a game that surely needed to
be won. With PSV winning 2-0 the previous evening at Heracles
Almelo, an Ajax victory would again cut the lead of the
reigning champions to just three points. Maintaining the
pressure on the league leaders; that's what it was all about.
And, oh yeah: wasn't it time for a nice hatful of goals? 5-0,
6-0 or something?
Alas, it all turned out differently: Ajax deeply embarrassed
themselves as a valiant Excelsior side held Ajax to a 2-2 draw.
A historic result for Excelsior; a historic embarrassment for
Ajax.
Edgar Davids celebrates his
spectacular goal. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Ajax appeared to suffer from the problem that has dogged the
club for the last few seasons: not concentrating on the job on
hand, in this case defeating Excelsior. Instead, the team
looked to have one eye on the forthcoming games: AZ away,
Twente away, PSV away. Tougher games, more interesting in many
ways. Taking to the pitch on a chilly Sunday afternoon, Ajax
coach Henk ten Cate made four changes to the side that had
started against Werder Bremen in Germany on Wednesday evening,
with Davids (not eligible in UEFA competition) being brought
in, as both Huntelaar and Anita played from the start.
Ajax started the game confidently enough, stroking the ball
around without creating many clear cut chances. However, in the
19th minute the ArenA erupted for the first time, as Edgar
Davids scored his first goal since his return from the English
Premiership. And what a goal it was! Ajax were awarded an
indirect free kick about 25 metres out. Tom De Mul tapped it to
the waiting Davids who fired home a beauty past the
outstretched fingers of Zwathoed into the 'upper ninety' of the
Excelsior goal. Davids seemed to enjoy the goal as much as the
47,000 crowd inside the stadium.
Playing from the start: young
Vurnon Anita. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Ajax seemed on their way to a comfortable vistory, but it
all went wrong within the next 10 minutes. Instead of pressing
forward and trying to kill the game off, Ajax seemed to lose
concentration. None more so than John Heitinga, who's abysmal
attempt at a cross field pass in the 25th minute would
eventually cost Ajax dearly. Taking the ball out of defense,
Heitinga attempted to pass to Anita. His pass was easily
intercepted by Andwélé Slory who ran nearly half
the length of the pitch before slipping the ball expertly past
Maarten Stekelenburg for the unlikely equalizer.
This should have been awake up call to Ajax but within five
minutes worse was to follow. Eldridge Rojer, lying unmarked on
the left hand side of the field, was able to run virtually
unchallenged into the Ajax penalty box. Anita was the nearest
defender. He gave the forward enough time to turn quickly - and
slot the ball past Stekelenburg, who looked a bit apathetic to
say the very least.
From within 10 minutes of taking the lead, Ajax had found
themselves a goal down as much through their own incompetence
as the skill of the opposing team. With groans of despair
wafting round the ArenA, the Amsterdammers needed to pull
themselves back into the game - and quickly. They did so thanks
to the returning Klaas Jan Huntelaar. Tom De Mul floated over a
corner in the 39th minute and Huntelaar found enough space at
the near post to jump and power home a header: 2-2 (39'), well
before half-time. Ajax seemed back on track. No-one at the
ArenA expected that 2-2 was actually going to be the final
score.. .
Oh, the embarrassment!
Lindenbergh and Heitinga seem to realize that
Ajax have just dropped two vital points... [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
The second half was a long and dull story, which can easily
be cut short: the Excelsior defense held steady in the face of
not too inspired attacking play from the Amsterdam side. The
introduction of Ryan Babel on the 59th minute (replacing
Lindenbergh) raised hopes round the ArenA but aside from a few
half chances nothing clear cut was created. With 15 minutes
remaining, Kenneth Perez came on for De Mul in the hope of
adding that little spark missing from play. As the game petered
out, the Excelsior defense held firm and Ajax were left to rue
an opportunity to be hanging on the coat-tails of PSV.
Unbelievable, but true .
"Today, it was nothing," said Ajax coach Henk ten Cate after
the game. "I thought it was terrible. We did ourselves a big
disservice today. This may have been the worst match of the
season. You should not lose points to Excelsior, but that's
what we did."
It was, indeed, quite possibly Ajax's worst display of the
season. Lapses in concentration in defense could cost the
Amsterdam side very dearly in the final run in... (Gordon
Paterson)
GOALS
- 19' 1-0 Edgar Davids
- 25' 1-1 Andwélé Slory
- 30' 1-2 Eldridge Rojer
- 39' 2-2 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Referee: Van Boekel
Yellow card: Davids (Ajax)
Attendance: 47,905
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Anita, Stam,
Heitinga, Lindenbergh (59. Babel); Gabri, Sneijder, Davids; De
Mul (76. Perez), Huntelaar, Leonardo.
Excelsior line-up: Zwarthoed; Bandjar, van
Nieuwstadt, Drost, Piqué (86. Zijm); Simr, Van Dieren
(70. Gyan), Guijo-Velasco (69. Luyckx); Slory, Voskamp,
Rojer.
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