At last! Champions League for victorious Ajax
3 (0) - 0
(0)
Eredivisie Play-Offs, Second Round
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 27 May, 2007
Ajax finally overcame the AZ jinx to secure their place in
the third preliminary round of the Champions. After three tied
matches and one close defeat, Ajax showed their ability to rise
to the big occasion, even without their midfield dynamo
Wesley Sneijder, who was suspended due to accumulated yellow
cards and may well have played his last match for Ajax.
Ajax started with an attacking 4-3-3 formation, using Babel
on the right of Huntelaar and (rather surprisingly) Nicolae
Mitea on the left. AZ nearly drew first blood when they created
a chance in the first minute, but Boukhari did not make the
most of good approach play. Ajax's wide men were beginning to
threaten the AZ defense in the first ten minutes, with Babel
causing many problems with his urgent, attacking style. Mitea
showed a few good touches but it was evident that he was not
strong enough to bypass his man and get proper crosses in.
After ten minutes, Davids found Huntelaar with an excellent
pass, but his final shot on the turn was easily gathered by
Waterman. The ArenA had already made their opinion of Waterman
felt when he tried to slow play down by keeping the ball at his
feet for as long as possible. Huntelaar now started to
close the goalkeeper down at every opportunity,
showing Ajax's intent to keep the game flowing.
First-half substitute Tom De Mul
takes on one former Ajacied, Tim de Cler,
while another, Nourdin Boukhari, looks on. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Twelve minutes into the game, an attack down the right led
to a firm cross fizzing straight across the Ajax penalty area.
Arveladze had only needed to give the slightest touch to give
Stekelenburg a problem, but Ajax survived.
The midfield battle was getting rather interesting now with
Davids, Perez and Gabri beginning to establish some sort
of control, attacking AZ possession fiercely. Meanwhile, a
clash of heads between Heitinga and Martens led to the latter
being treated on the field. Although the amount of possession
was equal, Ajax were beginning to push forward quicker than
their opponents, this leading to a charged attack which almost
gave Gabri a header on goal from Ogararu's cross.
Because of the obvious problems that Babel was causing, Ten
Cate decided to give De Mul the chance to replace a poorly
performing Mitea after 29 minutes, both wingers switching to
their natural sides. Just minutes later, a 29-yard Perez free
kick clipped the defensive wall and went for a corner.
The F-Side and surrounding
sections are filled to capacity. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The first real incident came after 35 minutes when
Stekelenburg was yellow carded for his part in a skirmish in
the Ajax penalty area.
Switching Babel onto his usual left side was causing AZ
problems some real problems now. Any forward runs were being
blocked by up to three AZ defenders, this freeing up the right
wing for De Mul. Both wingers were now taking advantage of
quick passes out of defense, stretching AZ to the limit. As the
first half ran into added time, Davids produced a wicked shot
which Waterman could only parry, and Huntelaar was only just
beaten to the rebound by Tim de Cler. Perez was yellow carded
in the final minute of the half, just before a Heitinga free
kick from 30 yards narrowly missed the crossbar. These two
incidents were the signs of things to come.
Babel was caught offside with the first attack of the second
half, the intent of the Ajax players being obvious. Davids
found Huntelaar three times in a short attacking spell, the
first leading to a perfect lay off for Vermaelen to power in a
shot that went just wide. Ajax were now beginning to turn the
screw, with even George Ogararu adding to the offensive push. A
goal seemed in the air.
Johnny Heitinga opens the
scoring. Was he off-side? [Photo: Ajax.nl]
And it was scored, indeed. A 56th minute free kick from
Perez was perfectly placed into the path of Heitinga who made
no mistake with a fierce cross shot: 1-0 - and Ajax were
on the march, while AZ now required a goal. At
the sideline, AZ boss Louis van Gaal was outraged, claiming
that Heitinga had netted from an off-side position. If
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar grazed Perez's free-kick, more or less
flicking it on to Heitinga, then the latter was indeed
off-side. But did Huntelaar touch the ball...? It was
very, very hard to see on the TV footage.
The crowd in the ArenA now began to believe that the time
had come to raise the roof, this being helped two minutes later
when the unlucky Ryan Donk deflected a sharp cross from De
Mul past the stranded Waterman and into his own net: 2-0. Poor
Ryan Donk... The young Amsterdammer has had a fine season for
AZ, but has been particularly unfortunate in recent, decisive
games against Ajax: in the cup final he missed the decisive
penalty a few weeks ago. Now, his own goal seemed to close
the door to the Champions League for his side.
Anyway: half an hour to go and Ajax were in the lead over
all, 3-2 on aggregate.
AZ now needed to score, Van Gaal replaced Molhoek with Danny
Koevermans after 68 minutes. This seemed to make little
difference to the pattern of play, and so Boukhari was replaced
by Lens only three minute later. Ajax still looked to press
home their advantage even more, with Ogararu and Perez starting
to take advantage of the widening gaps appearing in the now
desperate AZ defense. After a long clearance up field,
Vermaelen and Koevermans clashed heads and needed treatment,
the latter for a particularly nasty cut. This was treated
rather hastily off the field by the AZ physio.
Ajax made their second substitution after 80 minutes when
Perez gave the captain's band to Huntelaar and was replaced by
Hedwiges Maduro. Even now Ajax were still pushing forwards
whenever possible, Maduro and Huntelaar producing an excellent
one-two which was thwarted by a last gasp lunge from Kew
Jaliens. At the other end, Koevermans was sent from the field
for further treatment as his headwound had opened up again,
just like the AZ defense after 89 minutes a thru-ball to
Huntelaar gave him a chance to round Waterman and steer the
ball for Gabri: 3-0 - and a place in the Champions League
qualifiers was secured.
Grygera, Leonardo, Stam and
Sneijder enjoy the happy result. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
This was possibly Ajax's most complete home performance of
the year. The defence, with Heitinga and Vermaelen outstanding,
showed that they are able to bond without Jaap Stam; the
midfield, under the fiery leadership of Perez and Davids showed
grit and determination, despite Wesley Sneijder's absence; the
attack, with 'KJH' holding the ball up rather successfully,
showed that next season might be the championship
year... (Ian Walker)
Thank you!
We wish to express our gratitude to these departing
Ajacieden...
ZDENEK GRYGERA
The Czech defender's contract will expire on 30 June.
'Gryga' has already signed
for Juventus, on a free transfer. He was an
Ajacied for three seasons.
ROGER GARCIA JUNYENT
Roger signed a one year deal Ajax last summer,
with the option to extend it for
another year. This will not happen: the Spanish
midfielder has decided to end his career.
FRED GRIM
The former Ajax goalkeeper was the club's goalkeepers'
coach in recent seasons.
Grim will move on to Sparta Rotterdam, where he
will be re-united with his former
team-mate and head-coach, Danny Blind, now technical
director at Sparta.
|
GOALS
- 56' 1-0 John Heitinga
- 58' 2-0 Ryan Donk (own goal)
- 89' 3-0 'Gabri' Garcia de la Torre
Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: Stekelenburg (Ajax), Jaliens,
Molhoek, Boukhari (AZ)
Attendance: 50,201
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Ogararu,
Heitinga, Vermaelen, Emanuelson; Gabri, Perez (81.
Maduro), Davids; Babel, Huntelaar, Mitea (30. De Mul).
AZ line-up: Waterman; Steinsson, Donk,
Jaliens, De Cler; Martens, Molhoek (68. Koevermans), De
Zeeuw (83. Opdam), Boukhari (72. Lens); Jenner, Arveladze.
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