Clueless, frustrated Ajax humbled at The Castle: 3-0
3 (1) - 0 (0)
Eredivisie
Sparta Stadium, Rotterdam
Sunday, 26 November, 2006
Twenty league games to prepare for
the post-season play-offs...? Officially it's way too early for
Ajax to bow their heads and jump to that conclusion, but
many Ajax fans will certainly feel that way after today's
humiliating visit to Sparta Rotterdam. At The
Castle, the Amsterdammers lost Wesley Sneijder (red carded
after only 13 minutes), Henk ten Cate (dismissed
at half-time) and - subsequently - a few more things,
such as the plot, the points, their dignity and
contact with the top of the Eredivisie table. Ajax failed to
win any of their last four games and, in those 360 minutes of
football, scored only one goal - quite typically from a direct
free-kick.
Wesley Sneijder is outraged after his 13th minute
dismissal. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The team's preparations for the encounter with the
Eredivisie's modest #16 were far from from perfect. The UEFA
Cup game at
Sparta Prague was easily one of the worst games of
football in recent memory, there was time for only one training
session between the games against the 'two Spartas' and - most
importantly - the week was overshadowed by the unexpected and
highly undesired 'Perez scandal'. While Ajax were in
Prague, press and public in back home were discussing
controversial footage of Ajax vs FC Twente, on which Kenneth
Perez hurls serious racist abuse at one of the linesmen,
Mr. Siebert.
Perez issued an official statement via Ajax ("I am deeply
ashamed of the racist remark I have made and I want to
sincerely apologize to Mr. Siebert and everybody
else. The stupidity of what I said contrasts sharply with the
way I normally live my life and also with the values
I teach my own children. In shame - Kenneth Perez"),
but the Danish winger played from the start in Rotterdam-West,
where the painful incident would become an important point
of discussion after the match, as both Wesley Sneijder and Ajax
boss Henk ten Cate claimed that it was one of the reasons why
referee Ruud Bossen showed Sneijder the red card, as early as
in the 13th minute.
It was a pivotal moment. Sneijder, whose two
free-kicks were the only shots on goal in the opening
phase, evaded a tackle from Jeffrey Vlug in the 13th minute,
then was booked for angrily pushing the Sparta player. Sneijder
then snapped a few words at referee Bossen, who resolutely
pulled another card out of his breast pocket: not a second
yellow, but a direct red. What did Sneijder say? The midfielder
confirmed on TV that he used the Dutch words
"blinde tyfushond" (literally: "you blind typhoid
dog"), but claimed that he was saying it to
Vlug, not to the referee. Sneijder also stated that
the abuse was "nothing shocking", a statement that
was - remarkably - echoed by Henk ten Cate: "It's a word
that is used at least one hundred times in every football game.
If referees send off every player using it, almost every
game will end up a five-a-side affair."
Gabri had a miserable game in midfield and picked up his fifth
yellow
card of the season, which means a one game suspension. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Indeed,
the gentlemen speaking on behalf of Ajax did not exactly shine
after the game. And the gentlemen playing football on behalf of
Ajax did not exactly shine during the game, either, we
might add.
Ajax
were, once again, never in it. Not for a single minute. Some of
the defenders (Stam, Emanuelson) more or less did their job
properly, but the forwards (and we mean all of them)
were once again way below par. They never created a serious
scoring chance. The only noteworthy moments near Sparta's goal
were a high cross from the right, which Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
tried to flick on to an unmarked Gabri. The ball was very
clearly handled inside the penalty area. Could have been a
penalty, but it wasn't given. The second moment was a good run,
followed by a fine shot from Urby Emanuelson in the
second half, tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Terol. And,
finally, a John Heitinga header from a corner kick was cleared
from the goal-line by a Sparta defender.
And
that was about it, from an Ajax perspective. It's becoming a
truly worrying statistic: Ajax scored only once in their last
360 minutes of football. The number of open chances they
created in those 360 minutes (against PSV, Twente and the two
Spartas) is hardly higher than that.
The
home side, with one former Ajacied (Anthony Obodai) playing
from the start and another (Yannis Anastasiou) coming on as a
late substitution (78'), started to smell blood.
The Rotterdammers shrugged off their reluctance and
pulled forward. Left winger Rachid Bouaouzan, in particular,
was a constant plague for the right flank of Ajax's defense. By
the 30th minute Ajax were under pressure; in the 35th they went
a goal down, as Edwin van Bueren's cross from the right flank
was stylishly headed home by Yuri Rose: 1-0 (35').
It
was the start Ajax's embarrassing downfall at The Castle and,
in this particular case, the Amsterdammers' head-coach did not
exactly lead by example. When referee Ruud Bossen whistled for
half time and walked into the tunnel, Henk ten Cate joined him
for a discussion about Wesley Sneijder's red card. It took
place close enough to the microphones of some of the TV
cameras.
Ten
Cate: "You know what you are? A moral crusader.
Unbelievable."
Bossen:
"Is that right? You're staying inside in the second
half!"
Ten
Cate: "A moral crusader, that's what you are."
Bossen:
"You're on the stands for the second half."
Ten
Cate: "Moral crusader, man. Moral crusader."
Henk ten Cate will have a lot of explaining to do
in the coming days... [Photo: Ajax.nl]
And
that was the final word. Ten Cate dismissed; Fons Groenendijk
to coach Ajax from the bench in the second 45 minutes.
There wasn't much he could do to stop the bleeding. Ten
Cate pointed out after the game that 'moral crusader' is
not an abusive expression. Bossen: "That is correct. I didn't
dismiss Henk due to abusive language. I dismissed him for
repeatedly criticizing the officials."
And
the tragedy continued. Let us just say that referee Bossen
would have had every right to abandon the game due to the
constant avalanche of abusive chants from the travelling Ajax
supporters and that he should have shown John Heitinga his
second yellow card for bringing down Bouaouzan inside the
penalty area. Heitinga corrected a clumsy mistake from Gabri
(one of Ajax's worst on the day). Bossen had booked
Heitinga a few minutes before, but for some
reason decided to have mercy. Sjaak Polak converted from the
spot (2-0, 60') and substitute Haris Medunjanin made things a
bit worse in the dying minutes, by beautifully lifting a
free-kick over the wall and into the back of the net: 3-0
(78'). Time for the busride home and some serious discussion at
the Amsterdam ArenA.
What
happened to the Ajax team that had the best start in the
Eredivisie since 1997? The team that looked solid, mature
and of high quality against Utrecht, Groningen, Feyenoord and
even PSV? The games against the two Spartas were painfully
reminiscent of last season, or the season before, the dark era
which we all thought Ajax had finally left behind.
PSV?
That can happen. Good first half, good defending, slightly
unfortunate result.
FC
Twente? Well, alright: Twente are 4th and were extremely
well organized at the ArenA.
Sparta
Prague? Fair enough: ten Ajax players decided to close the shop
and settle for 0-0 in a European away game.
But
this? A 3-0 defeat at Sparta Rotterdam...? There is no
excuse. This was the type of daft defeat that we all
thought Ajax would not suffer anymore. We've been too
optimistic. (MP)
GOALS
- 35' 1-0 Yuri Rose
- 60' 2-0 Sjaak Polak (penalty)
- 84' 3-0 Haris Medunjanin
Referee: Bossen
Yellow cards: Cvetkov (Sparta
Rotterdam), Grygera, Heitinga, Gabri, Lindenbergh, Sneijder,
Vermaelen (Ajax)
Red cards: Sneijder (Ajax, 13'), Ten
Cate (Ajax head-coach, 46')
Attendance: 10,800
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga,
Stam (46. Vermaelen), Grygera, Emanuelson; Gabri (63. Ogararu),
Sneijder, Lindenbergh; De Mul, Huntelaar, Perez (46.
Mitea).
Sparta Rotterdam line-up: Terol; De Roover,
Olfers, Schenkel, Polak; Van Bueren (46. Medunjanin), Obodai,
Rose; Vlug (69. Oost), Cvetkov (78. Anastasiou), Bouaouzan.
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