Massive second half comeback at FC Groningen: 2-3
2 (2) - 3
(0)
Eredivisie
Euroborg, Groningen
Sunday, 28 January, 2007
The head-to-head confrontations between Ajax
and FC Groningen are always two of the
Amsterdammers' most spectacular and exciting games of
football of the season. If we ignore the two
play-off fixtures at the end of last season,
today's encounter at the ever-atmospheric Euroborg was the
fourth straight clash between the two sides that had a
final score of 3-2. It was, once again, a spectacularly
entertaining game: it had the twists and turns, it had the
emotions, the drama, the errors, there
were stories to tell and - last but not
least - FC Groningen vs Ajax of 28 January 2007 had an
unforgettable apotheosis: Ajax seemed dead and buried, but left
Euroborg with the full three points after two goals in the
latter ten minutes of the encounter, including a last-gasp
stoppage time winner from Leonardo. Ajax pulled it off in
Groningen... and they did it with ten men.
Indeed: sometimes a game football is so exciting
that a reporter hardly knows where to start...
From an Ajax perspective, the first half was easy to
summarize. Nightmare. Total disaster. Ajax seemed to think
that the game had a kick-off time of 3:30 instead of 2:30. They
were overwhelmed and outplayed by a pugnacious and
opportunistic home team. The white and green troops of
head-coach Ron Jans seemed to win every aerial duel,
every bodycheck, every tackle, every
sprint for the ball. Ajax were constantly under pressure,
although the number of open scoring chances for the hosts
wasn't too large. The most dangerous moment in the opening
phase was a cross from the left flank, but
striker Luis Suárez's attempt to tap it home with
his hand was so shameless that his reward was
a booking.
Ajax were asking for trouble - and they got it in the
20th minute, as Hedwiges Maduro brought down Goran
Lovre from behind when the latter had a free passage through
the heart of Ajax's defense: yellow card and a penalty,
converted resolutely by Russian midfielder Evgeniy
Levchenko: 1-0 Groningen, totally deserved.
Jaap Stam battles Groningen striker Luis Suarez. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Poor Hedwiges Maduro... The midfielder played well in
Wednesday's KNVB Cup game
against FC Haarlem and was rewarded with his first
starting slot in the Eredivisie since 03 December 2006. He was
- pardon our French - a walking disaster in the first half,
although it must be said that Gabri was probably even
worse. Ajax were sometimes overrun in the twenty
minutes after the opening goal. Grygera and Stam picked up
yellow cards, which was painful in Stam's case: he will be
suspended for next week's 'Classic' against Feyenoord.
Five minutes before the half-time whistle Groningen doubled
the score, and it was a goal that summed it all up: Bruno
Silva's free-kick landed in the Ajax goalmouth, where no less
than three Groningen players won their
duels against their respective Ajax opponents who
were simply a step too late: Nevland flicked it
on, Lovre used his body to create for Suárez -
and the Uruguayan striker stepped away from his man to
fire home nicely. One of the Ajacieden to blame was...
poor Hedwiges Maduro. No surprise that George Ogararu replaced
him for the second half.
The second half started with a pivotal moment in the match.
In the 48th minute Ajax's defense was once again a shambles as
a defender nodded the ball forward: Luis Suárez suddenly
had a completely free passage to Maarten Stekelenburg. The
Uruguayan overlooked his team-mate Erik Nevland and went for
his own success, but was denied by Maarten Stekelenburg and, in
the rebound, George Ogararu. A third Groningen goal would most
definitely have been the knock-out blow for Ajax. Instead:
Suárez's miss marked the turning point in the game and
the start of Ajax's unbelievable resurrection. With
hindsight, that is.
Only five minutes later the least celebrated but most
beautiful goal of the day slammed against the net behind
goalkeeper Bas Roorda: a resolute drop-kick volley from inside
the area, into the upper ninety via the underside of the
cross-bar. The scorer? Jaap Stam, who really fired home without
thinking, like a striker with great goal-instinct. It was a
goal out of nowhere, and not even a real scoring chance, but
Ajax - obviously - didn't care. They were back in the game
and knew that they had more fuel left in their tanks than the
hosts, who gave a lot in the first half. Henk ten Cate
brought Leonardo for the weakest Ajacied on the day (Gabri, who
had just wasted a massive scoring chance, face-to-face with
Roorda) and, a little later, Kenneth Perez for Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar, who disappointed once again and will now seriously
start to worry about his position in the team. Will Henk
ten Cate seriously consider a forward line of De Mul, Babel and
Leonardo, possibly with Kenneth Perez right behind
them?
Leonardo basks in his
game-winning stoppage time goal. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
'KJH' will surely have asked himself that question,
especially because Ajax started to improve almost immediately.
All of a sudden the Amsterdammers took a place in the drivers'
seat. The pressure increased, almost everything Leonardo
did was threatening and there suddenly were scoring
chances. Huge scoring chances, at both
ends. Bas Roorda denied Wesley Sneijder from close
range after an excellent Ajax attack. Stekelenburg saved
when Suárez showed up in front of him. A pristine
Levchenko shot hit (65') the underside of the cross-bar
and then trickled inches wide via Maarten Stekelenburg's back
(phew...). John Heitinga's header was cleared off the
goal-line. Urby Emanuelson's 80th minute strike from 20 yards
out beat Roorda... but bounced back from the post. What a
game. Absolutely amazing.
But Groningen remained upright and Ajax's hopes seemed to
vanish when Zdenek Grygera limped off the pitch. Hamstring
injury. Pretty serious, so it would turn out. Ajax had to carry
on with ten men, as Ten Cate had already substituted three
players. 2-1, 11 versus 10 and less than 10 minutes left on the
clock... It seemed over, until Tom De Mul crossed the ball into
the goalmouth, where Jaap Stam did not handle the
ball and John Heitinga was not offside when he
rocketed the loose ball into the roof of Bas Roorda's
goal: 2-2 (82') - and Ajax suddenly smelled blood.
The unthinkable happened in stoppage time, one minute
after Stekelenburg had saved on a dangerous Cornelisse
free-kick and Bas Roorda has punched a Sneijder
shot out of the corner in highly unorthodox fashion.
One last attack from Ajax, a good run from a determined
Wesley Sneijder, a shot from Kenneth Perez... against the
post... and there was Leonardo, Ajax's bat out of hell, to tap
the rebounding ball into the deserted net, causing utter and
total madness in the sold out away end: 2-3
(90+1'). Ajax's first win at the Euroborg was a fact. And,
in spite of 180 minutes of truly wonderful football, their
two confrontations with Ajax brought FC Groningen
zero points. A bit unfortunate, in a way.
Ajax players salute
their traveling supporters. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Did Ajax deserve the win? Yes and no. Groningen
were the by far superior side in the first half and created
better chances in the second than Ajax in the first. A win
would not have been undeserved. On the other hand: a team
that's 2-0 up at half-time, in a home game, but concedes
two goals in the latter ten minutes from an
opponent playing with ten men, really has no
right to complain about 'bad luck'. Ajax lost in almost
identical fashion in Arnhem, in December, and that
was an away game, against eleven men. It wasn't bad
luck, but plain, blatant stupidity from Ajax,
while winners Vitesse got everybody's
compliments for battling until the end. Indeed:
Groningen would have deserved the win, but gave it away in
clumsy fashion. And Ajax deserve credit for the
way they turned this one around. At the end of the day,
Ajax had more possession and more shots on goal than
the home team. Of course Lady Fortune wore red and white
today, but Ajax's unlikely triumph wasn't as blatantly
undeserved as many at the Green Cathedral will
claim.
Groningen boss Ron Jans was realistic as always: "This was a
top drawer spectacle. When it comes to entertainment this
game can be rated 10/10. Unfortunately, the result for
Groningen is zero. Earlier this season, at the ArenA, I felt
that the luckiest team won [3-2 Ajax, ed.]. Over here we
should have secured the win ourselves by making it 3-0
immediately after the break."
It was a truly wonderful day for Ajax, especially because
PSV suffered their second defeat of the season: 2-0 at Roda JC
in Kerkrade. Which means that Ajax closed in. The gap is still
eight points, which is a lot, but with Ajax - Feyenoord
and PSV - AZ coming up next weekend, and PSV - Ajax
still on the agenda, optimists might say that it ain't
over yet...
Holy Mother Maria, what a game. (MP)
GOALS
- 20' 1-0 Evgeniy Levchenko
(penalty)
- 40' 2-0 Luis
Suárez
- 53' 2-1 Jaap Stam
- 82' 2-2 John Heitinga
- 90+1' 2-3 Leonardo Vitor Santiago
Referee: Wegereef
Yellow cards: Nevland, Suárez,
Lovre (FC Groningen), Maduro, Grygera, Stam, Emanuelson
(Ajax)
Attendance: 19,800
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga,
Stam, Grygera; Gabri (57. Leonardo), Maduro (46. Ogararu),
Sneijder, Emanuelson; De Mul, Huntelaar (69. Perez),
Babel.
FC Groningen line-up: Roorda; Silva,
Svejdik, Kruiswijk, Van der Linden; Lindgren, Van de Laak (83.
Kolder), Levchenko, Lovre (62. Matthijs); Suárez,
Nevland (79. Cornelisse).
Related links
