Goodbye to Dennis, as KJH scores first goal at Emirates Stadium
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Dennis Bergkamp Testimonial
Emirates Stadium, London, England
Saturday, 22 July, 2006
It could not have been a nicer day for Dennis Bergkamp.
Well, except that a goal in his unforgettable testimonial would
have been great. 'The Legend' came very close in the second
half, in which he was the captain of the 'Arsenal Legends'
against the 'Ajax Legends'. Suddenly Bergkamp had a free
passage to the Ajax goal, but he was denied by his former
team-mate, Stanley Menzo, who seemed to apologize for
his save. Bergkamp just smiled, remembering what he said
before the game: let's make it a real game, a cheap goal
is not the type of 'gift' I want today.
So, no goal for Bergkamp in his memorable 'farewell game',
but apart from that everything was perfect: it was a warm day
(literally and metaphorically) in North London,
the stadium was magnificent, the pitch in pristine condition
and the atmosphere warm and exuberant, as well over
50,000 Bergkamp fans from England, plus another 4,000 from
The Netherlands, said 'thank you, Dennis'. Thank you for all
those years of beautiful football and goals from another
planet. Thank you for touching our lives, the lives of a whole
generation of Arsenal, Ajax and Holland fans.
Huntelaar scores the first-ever
at Emirates. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
At 5:00 PM local time, the current squads of Arsenal and
Ajax took the pitch for the Non-Flying Dutchman's farewell
game. It was an interesting match for Ajax for more than
just one reason: after a string of pre-season fixtures against
amateur sides in The Netherlands, it was the Amsterdammers'
first encounter with professional opponesition - and more than
just that: Arsenal were one of this year's Champions
League finalists.
Quite surprisingly, the seven Ajacieden who played
at the World Cup this summer and have only been in training for
one week, did see action against The Gunners after
all, after head-coach Henk ten Cate had said earlier this
week that they wouldn't. Maarten Stekelenburg, John Heitinga,
Hedwiges Maduro, Zdenek Grygera and Wesley Sneijder all played
from the start; Ryan Babel and Markus Rosenberg came on a
substitutes. Remarkably, players such as Gabri
and Charisteas did not see action.
It must be said: Ajax made an very good impression
in the first half. They were clearly the better side against an
Arsenal team that left most of its World
Cup stars (including Henry and Reyes) out of the squad,
but still fielded more than enough top drawer quality (Hleb,
Cygan, Traore, Aliadiere) and - as one might assume
- were determined enough to book a good
result in what was the sold-out 'curtain opener' at their
new home ground in North London. But the Amsterdammers knocked
the ball around more convincingly than their opponents and
created the by far best chances in the 45 minutes
they were on the pitch. In the first half hour, goalkeeper
Almunia turned a Huntelaar shot around the post and Hedwiges
Maduro steered a header just wide of the far post. The most
exciting moment at the other end was a chip from 'The Iceman'
himself. It went just over the cross-bar.
Ajax got the goal they deserved only two minutes after Henk
ten Cate had replaced no less than five players. One of the
newcomers, Edgar Manucharyan, did wonderfully well as
a left winger. When his perfect 37th minute
cross came in, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar leapt forward
athletically and volleyed home for the first ever goal at
Emirates Stadium: 0-1 (37') - and what a beautiful one it was.
One minute later Manucharyan could have doubled the score, but
goalkeeper Mart Poom saved. When referee Mario van den Ende
blew his whistle, it was 'game over' for Ten Cate's
men. A 0-1 'win' over Arsenal in a 45 minute game... that's not
at all bad.
In the second half the football went a little bit
slower, which had everything to do with the average age and
fitness level of the Arsenal Legends and Ajax Legends
on the pitch. Yet, it was an even more memorable affair than
the first half. How moving it was to
see the excitement of fans of both
teams when the football heroes of
yesteryear were introduced on the pitch. Ajax started
with Edwin van der Sar in goal. Aron Winter, Frank Rijkaard and
Frank de Boer played in defense, assisted by Jaap Stam (a bit
of a legend already, and there were only eleven 'Ajax Legends',
so they could use an extra player...). The midfielders were Jan
Wouters, Edgar Davids, Alfons Groenendijk and a remarkably fit
Wim Jonk. The men upfront, finally, were Ronald de Boer, Bryan
Roy and Stefan Pettersson, whose presence elicited one of the
loudest roars from the section of Ajax fans: the Swedish
striker (not the fittest of the lot these
days...) was extremely popular in Amsterdam around
1990.
'Sir Dennis' is carried off by his teammates, past and
present, along with Frank Rijkaard. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The Arsenal Legends had more subs and more outfield players
who are still playing on the highest level, including the
'French Connection' of Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. When
the latter tapped a cross past Edwin van der Sat after eight
minutes, it wasn't 1-0 to the Arsenal Legends, but 1-1,
as it was - after all - the second half of a 90 minute
Arsenal vs Ajax game. Ajax could have taken the lead again
shortly after Henry's equalizer, when Edgar Davids was brought
down in the penalty box and the referee pointed to the spot.
Ronald de Boer lifted the penalty well over the cross-bar. We
don't want to rub it in, Ronald, but let's just say it
wasn't your first miss from the spot for Ajax... On
the other hand, it definitely wasn't the most important one,
either.
Halfway the 45 minutes the stadium announcer asked the
crowd's attention for two more Ajax subs: Jan Wouters
and Stefan Pettersson left the pitch for two gents
named... Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten! If anyone at
Emirates Stadium was slightly disappointed by the fact
that they weren't there (Cruyff was only going to 'coach' the
Ajax Legends, whereas Van Basten didn't seem to be there at
all) they now realized that they'd been tricked. Everyone, and
we mean everyone at Emirates Stadium jumped up to
pay homage to the ex-Ajax men for whom (in
the words of Arsenal.com) "the word legend is not enough."
Van Basten actually came extremely close to scoring when he
beautifully controlled a cross inside the penalty area, chipped
the ball over defender Steve Bould's head, turned and
volleyed at goal. Goalkeeper Alex Manninger saved, but it
was a moment of great and, quite honestly, rather
surprising brilliance. The most beautiful moment of the
'veteran game' in the second half, by a mile.
Ten minutes before the end of the game the Arsenal Legends
scored their decisive second, so that their captain, Dennis
Bergkamp, won his own testimonial. Goalkeeper Stanley Menzo had
just denied Bergkamp his goal, but had no chance when
Nwankwo Kanu's shot took a wicked deflection and trickled into
the net at the near post: 2-1 (80'). Oh well, Nwankwo Kanu is
as much of an Ajax Legend as he is an Arsenal Legend, so let's
say the final score was 1½ - 1½...
Seriously then: the final score was Arsenal 2, Ajax 1.
Whatever. It was time to say goodbye to a great football player
and a wonderfully modest person. That was what really
mattered.
Bergkamp acknowledges his fans.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
There were some short speeches and a few gift presentations,
including one from an Ajax delegation of board member Hennie
Henrichs and technical director Martin van Geel. After Bergkamp
had said a few words himself, he calmly walked a lap
of honour around the pitch and (for once) allowed his former
team-mates to carry him on their shoulders, a place where
he never felt at home but this time there was no
escape. And that was it then. Dennis Bergkamp is no longer
a professional footballer. It was an honour for Ajax to
contribute to his wonderful last game. (MP)
GOALS
- 37' 0-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 55' 1-1 Thierry Henry
- 80' 2-1 Nwankwo Kanu
Referee: Van den Ende (The Netherlands)
Cards: none
Attendance: 54,000
Ajax line-up (first
half): Stekelenburg; Heitinga (35. Ogararu),
Stam, Vermaelen, Grygera (35. Emanuelson); Maduro, Sneijder
(41. Schilder), Vertonghen (35. Lindenbergh); De Mul (35.
Babel), Huntelaar (41. Rosenberg), Perez (35. Manucharyan).
'Ajax Legends' line-up (second half):
Players used: Van der Sar (Menzo), Winter, Stam,
Rijkaard, F. de Boer, Wouters (Cruijff),
Jonk, Groenendijk, R. de Boer, Pettersson (Van Basten),
Roy.
Arsenal FC line-up (first
half): Almunia;
Hoyte, Cygan, Connolly, Traore; Hleb, Song, Flamini,
Smith; Bergkamp, Aliadiere.
Subs used: Poom, Larsson, Bendtner,
Muamba, O'Cearuill, Randall, Van den
Berg, Lupoli, Stokes.
'Arsenal Legends' (second
half): Players used:
Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn,
Bould, Grimandi, Overmars, Petit,
Edu, Parlour; Bergkamp, Henry, Wright, Luzhny,
Van Bronckhorst, Manninger, Vieira, Helder,
Kanu.
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