Lacklustre Ajax advance to third round after forgettable 2-5 win
Young RKC
Waalwijk
2 (1) - 5 (2)
KNVB Cup, Second Round
Mandemakers Stadium, Waalwijk
Wednesday, 20 September, 2006
Henk ten Cate didn't feel like talking during the press
conference after his team's 2-5 win over the reserves team of
RKC Waalwijk, in the second round of the KNVB Cup. Well,
alright, there was one thing te Ajax boss wished to
say: "Our play deeply embarrassed me for 90
minutes tonight."
Ten Cate had a point: it wasn't exactly a memorable game of
football and it is rather embarrassing indeed that Ajax
allowed Young RKC a brace of goals. On the other
hand: it is a very unrewarding task to travel to sleepy
Waalwijk on a Wednesday evening in September, for a 'clash of
the cup winners' (Ajax won the
Gatorade Cup last season, and Young RKC Waalwijk the
Gatorade Cup for reserves teams), in front of less than
2,000 spectators.
Ajax are in the third round - and that's all there is to
it.
Ryan Babel came on as a substitute in the second half. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
For the record: Young RKC Waalwijk really were
Young RKC Waalwijk. The yellow and blue played without a single
first teamer, for the simple reason that RKC-1 play their
second round cup fixture (against FC Dordrecht) tomorrow
evening. Young RKC really consisted of Young RKC
players, plus the odd player from the A1 youth side, such as
goalkeeper Kevin Rijnvis, who had a wonderful game and
kept Ajax down to 'only' five goals.
As for Ajax: were they really Ajax-1? Yes and no.
All the players on the pitch were in Henk ten Cate's
A-squad, but the Ajax boss rested several of his usual
starters: Jaap Stam and Gabri stayed in Amsterdam, whereas
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg, Ryan
Babel and Urby Emanuelson started on the
bench. Instead, Ajax started with 'bench
boys' such as Markus Rosenberg, Olaf Lindenbergh, Hedwiges
Maduro, goalkeeper Dennis Gentenaar (his official Ajax
début!), Kenneth Perez and Zdenek Grygera.
The latter presented the home side with a highly
extraordinary gift in the second minute, by raising
his arm and handling the very first RKC cross of the game so
obviously that even referee Van Boekel was flabbergasted
for a couple of seconds. Yellow card for Grygera
(shouldn't that actually have been a red one...?) and a penalty
for the RKC reserves, who couldn't believe they were 1-0 up
when Kevin Vink rocketed home. What a remarkable return
to first team action for the Czech Ajacied...
Let's presume it was a black-out.
After the opening goal, Young RKC Waalwijk vs Ajax was more
or less the game you'd expect. The hosts battled bravely, but
Ajax were almost constantly in possession and got
loads and loads of scoring chances. Goalkeeper
Rijnvis, sometimes assisted by his defenders in several 'Comedy
Capers-like' situations in the goalmouth, kept a clean sheet
until the 21st minute: Kenneth Perez's handball at the far
post was almost as obvious as Grygera's earlier on, but
the referee didn't notice and allowed Perez to pull back
to Markus Rosenberg for an easy finish from close range: 1-1
(21').
Markus Rosenberg got a rare starting slot and scored twice.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
At half-time, Ajax had a lead of only one goal, but their
second was easily the best goal of the day: good attack over
the right flank (where Mauro Rosales was very energetic),
perfect ball control by Markus Rosenberg and a well-aimed, low
shot from an onstorming Hedwiges Maduro, 1-2 (29').
After the break Kenneth Perez tapped Ajax's third goal into
the net on a nice little pass from Olaf Lindenbergh (48'),
substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar chipped home for 1-4 and - how
embarrassing - Young RKC Waalwijk got their second goal, when
Cerezo Fung A Wing fumbled a corner kick into the net at
the near post (65'). Twenty minutes later, and five minutes
before the end, Markus Rosenberg put the same final score on
the boards as last week in Norway, by diagonally heading home
on a good Lindenbergh cross from the left: 2-5. Ajax will be in
the bowl for the third round draw tomorrow, but there was
absolutely nothing for them to be proud of in Waalwijk.
Henk ten Cate, meanwhile, was a bit more talkative to the
reporters of Ajax.nl than during official post-game press
conference at Mandemakers Stadium. "I can't
find words to describe this performance,"
the head-coach told the official Ajax website. "In fact,
every word I waste on this game is one too
many. If there is one thing we learned from this
match, it is that the players who don't see much action
have absolutely no right to complain about that. Better
for them to shut their mouths for a while."
Quite. Let's just forget about this one, shall we? Next up:
NEC. (MP)
GOALS
- 03' 1-0 Kevin Vink (penalty)
- 21' 1-1 Markus Rosenberg
- 29' 1-2 Hedwiges Maduro
- 48' 1-3 Kenneth Perez
- 57' 1-4 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 65' 2-4 Cerezo Fung A Wing
- 85' 2-5 Markus Rosenberg
Referee: Van Boekel
Yellow cards: Ronsard, Fung A Wing
(Young RKC Waalwijk), Grygera, Sneijder (Ajax)
Attendance: 2,000
Ajax line-up: Gentenaar; Ogararu (46.
Heitinga), Grygera, Vermaelen, Lindenbergh; Maduro, Sneijder,
Roger (46. Huntelaar); Rosales (62. Babel), Rosenberg,
Perez.
Young RKC
Waalwijk line-up: Rijnvis; Fung A Wing,
Ronsard, Kok, Misidjan (77. Van Assouw); Mulder, Varela (71.
Peljto), Khandan; Vink, Hoefdraad, Brands (62. Rijkaard).
Ajax advance to third round
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