Ajax triumph in entertaining fight against Groningen: 3-2
3 (0) - 2
(0)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Saturday, 14 October, 2006
You'd almost forget, but Urby Emanuelson actually had
a pretty poor start to the season: he made a fatal
mistake in the Champions League qualifier against FC
København, looked a bit tired and seemed to lack
the 'bite' that he had throughout last season. But
then Henk ten Cate moved him to midfield,
in a new 3-4-3 formation, and the young left-footer has
been a revelation eversince. Emanuelson was once
again unstoppable in the top fixture between Ajax and FC
Groningen (numbers 1 and 3 on the Eredivisie table,
respectively) and put the icing on the cake in the 80th minute,
when he got the ball in midfield, accelerated 'Urby style',
stormed past a couple of defenders and pulled the trigger
from almost 25 yards out: BANG - straight into
the top corner, 3-2 Ajax, three points pocketed. What an
absolute cracker of a goal.
Ajax celebrate after Babel's opening goal. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Emanuelson's stunning strike was the climax of a game that
was almost as spectacular and entertaining as
Utrecht vs Ajax, two weeks ago. That fixture was more
emotional and dramatic, but Ajax vs
Groningen had better football to offer. It was a
game between two strong sides: Groningen were solid,
well organized and more than willing to play for a result,
but Ajax also played well, sometimes showing the fast
one-touch football Henk ten Cate has in mind for his
team. Groningen were close to grabbing a point, and it
would not even have been undeserved, but at the end of the
day the win went to the team that was
dominant most of the time: Ajax.
The Amsterdammers started in the 3-4-3 formation Henk
ten Cate came up with a few weeks ago, with Heitinga, Stam and
Vermaelen as the back three and Emanuelson as the
outer midfielder on the left. Ajax were with Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar, who recovered from an ankle injury remarkably
speedily, but without Mauro Rosales, who picked up a minor
injury in training. Tom De Mul replaced him and, in the first
half hour alone, provided the strikers with more useful crosses
than Rosales normally does in a whole game.
The half-time score was 0-0, but that doesn't mean that the
match was boring. Both teams showed some quality football, were
often threatening and had a few dangerous shots on target.
Ajax's best moments were in the 27th and 28th minutes,
respectively. Huntelaar's header went just over the cross-bar
and Roorda got his fists against a good Wesley Sneijder
shot. At the other end, Maarten Stekelenburg
saved adequately on a Bruno Silva free-kick (33') and
Gabri could only just block a very dangerous attempt
from close range. Games between Ajax and Groningen are never
boring. Nearly 50,000 people at the Amsterdam ArenA expected
'fireworks' in the second half - and that's exactly what they
got.
The hosts (with Kenneth Perez on the right flank, instead of
Tom De Mul) broke the deadlock after only six minutes,
after some fine, fast one-touch football in midfield
and some wonderful movement around the penalty box. When
Wesley Sneijder's smart, low thru-pass came in, goalkeeper
Roorda focused on Gabri and didn't notice that the
Sneijder's pass was actually meant for Ryan Babel, who was
waiting at the far post and calmy tapped home: 1-0 (51') - and
the fuse of Ajax vs Groningen had been lit. The best was yet to
come.
All of a sudden, things went spectacularly fast. First,
Gabri brought Mark-Jan Fledderus down in the penalty box
(Evgeniy Levchenko converted the spotkick) and not lonh
after that a terrible cock-up by Maarten Stekelenburg
allowed Uruguayan striker Luis Suárez to slip past the
Ajax goalie and push the ball into an empty goal. Only nine
minutes after the opening goal, Ajax were a
goal down.
The Amsterdammers deserve a major compliment for not
panicking after the double blow around the hour mark. The
home team continued to play football. As you'd expect, Ajax
increased the pressure and started to create chances. In the
64th minute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar somehow managed to lift
the ball over the cross-bar on a low cross from the right, with
Roorda already beaten and almost standing on the goal-line. In
the 68th, Roorda nicely tipped a Wesley Sneijder free-kick over
the cross-bar. And referee Braamhaar could have given
Huntelaar a penalty on two occasions. That is: in
the 63rd he could have given one, in the 72nd
(when Sankoh pulled 'KJH' down) he really should
have.
KJH returned from injury very quickly, but didn't to
score in his first game back. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The equalizer was in the air, but Ajax got it rather
'cheaply'. Goalkeeper Bas Roorda misjudged a John Heitinga
cross from the right, allowing Ryan Babel to tap the loose ball
into the net from close range (74'). Roorda immediately stormed
towards referee Eric Braamhaar, claiming that he had been
pushed, but the footage on the big screens made clear that
Stekelenburg wasn't the only goalkeeper to give a goal away in
clumsy fashion this evening: Roorda simply failed to hold on to
Heitinga's incoming cross.
Ajax's smelled blood after the equalizer and went for
the win, but Groningen could have dealt the knock-out blow
almost immediately after Babel's second. Heaven knows
what went wrong, but all of a sudden two Groningen
forwards had a completely free passage to Stekelenburg, who
made up for his mistake by timing extremely well and
intercepting the attempt, with a little help from Hedwiges
Maduro, who blocked Koen van de Laak's rebound on the
goal-line. A very narrow escape. Minutes later Urby Emanuelson
gave Ajax the lead, but even then it wasn't over just yet.
Groningen sub Glen Salmon came close to equalizing, but
Maarten Stekelenburg beautifully turned his shot around
the post (88'). Indeed: the Ajax goalkeeper made a horrible
mistake, but also saved his side a couple of times.
What a rollercoaster ride this second half was. It was
so exciting that Henk ten Cate totally lost his voice during
the game. One of his assistants, Hennie Spijkerman, took place
behind the microphone after the game, sitting right next to a
very good friend of his: Groningen boss Ron
Jans. So, what did Spijkerman, a former
goalkeeper himself, about Maarten Stekelenburg's not-so-great
moment in the 56th minute? "That was some seriously bad
goalkeeping, but I'm sure Maarten is aware of that.
Fortunately, we've been very resilient today. There was plenty
of determination. Sometimes we had a little trouble staying
focused and organized, but getting three points off the number
three of the league is a good achievement, plain simple."
Ron Jans: "The luckiest team won today. Not necessarily the
best team. It was dead silent in our dressing room after the
game, except that Mark-Jan Fledderus, a Rotterdammer, yelled:
'why does it always go wrong against these bloody Ajax boys?'
We were close to getting a result."
Indeed, it was a typical Ajax vs Groningen encounter:
exciting, tight and with goals at both ends, but also - at
the end of the day - with Ajax as the winners. The
Amsterdammers look good these days. They remain at the top of
the table and, most importantly, they look like a
team. Which is an excellent thing with the
'Classic' in Rotterdam coming up next... (MP)
GOALS
- 51' 1-0 Ryan Babel
- 56' 1-1 Evgeniy Levchenko (penalty)
- 60' 1-2 Luis Suárez
- 74' 2-2 Ryan Babel
- 80' 3-2 Urby Emanuelson
Referee: Braamhaar
Yellow cards: Maduro (Ajax),
Suárez, Salmon (FC Groningen)
Attendance: 49,782
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga,
Stam, Vermaelen; Gabri, Maduro, Sneijder (85. Ogararu),
Emanuelson; De Mul (46. Perez), Huntelaar (90. Rosenberg),
Babel.
FC Groningen line-up: Roorda; Silva,
Sankoh, Kruiswijk, Van der Linden; Van de Laak, Lindgren (83.
Cornelisse), Levchenko, Fledderus (80. Lovre); Suárez,
Nevland (74. Salmon).
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