Weak ADO easily roll over at Amsterdam ArenA: 2-0
2 (1) - 0 (0)
KNVB Cup, Third Round
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Thursday, 09 November, 2006
The final of the Dutch cup competition in Rotterdam is
always a big and very atmospheric event, but the
country's football supporters hardly seem to care about the
'road to De Kuip': only 7,909 spectators showed up for Ajax vs
ADO Den Haag, a fixture in the third round of the KNVB
Cup, and the 22 men on the pitch proved those who decided
to stay at home absolutely right. The visitors had no
illusions and kindly rolled over, as Ajax advanced to the
'round of sixteen': 2-0.
It just wasn't a very important game to the two teams. Both
Ajax ADO Den Haag have a crucial fixture coming up this
weekend: the two top teams on the table (Ajax and PSV) clash in
Amsterdam, but the match between Sparta Rotterdam (#18) and ADO
Den Haag (#17) is equally crucial to the green and yellow from
The Hague, who will move to a new stadium this year and simply
can't afford to get relegated. As expected, Ajax boss Henk
ten Cate rested a few of his players: Wesley Sneijder and
Gabri didn't see action, Hedwiges Maduro and Urby Emanuelson
played one half each.
Edgar Manucharyan came within
inches of scoring. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Remarkably, Jaap Stam and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar did
play the full 90 minutes and put the same final
score on the boards as in the recent
Eredivisie encounter between the two sides. Stam
scored his first goal in an official game for Ajax after
only eight minutes. The Ajax skipper stormed across
the field with the ball at his foot, passed it to Mauro
Rosales on the right flank and continued his advance
to beat goalkeeper Zwinkels with a mighty header on
the Argentinian's cross: 1-0 - and Den Haag never got back
into the game, basically.
Rosales, who seems lightyears away from a starting
slot at the moment, would finish the game with two
perfect assist behind his name. In the 65th minute
he also set up Klaas-Jan Huntelaar with a beautiful,
very intelligent cross into the penalty box, which nicely
landed on 'KJH's' chest and, a split second later, hit the back
of the net: 2-0 (65'). Huntelaar could have scored more
than just once, but he fired just over the cross-bar in the
40th minute and headed wide of the far post in the
63rd. The striker's best chance was in the 62nd minute,
when Olaf Lindenbergh gave him a free passage. Zwinkels
saved.
Some more noteworthy moments? Let's see... Edgar
Manucharyan's shot grazed the cross-bar in the 19th minute,
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar attempted a bicycle kick 'Van
Basten style' in the 43rd and (a very nice moment) Nicolae
Mitea returned to first team action after
another frustrating battle against injury. It was his
first appearance since
13 July of this year. The Romanian left
winger had to wait for almost ten minutes before he
finally got the ball, but was also responsible for one of the
very few enjoyable moments of the second half: a very
frivolous and sassy attack over the left flank. Thomas
Vermaelen put Mitea face to face with Zwinkels with a lovely
backheel, but the angle was too tight and the Den Haag
goalkeeper saved on Mitea's shot.
Nicolae Mitea returned from
injury. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
"Nicolae has worked very hard for his comeback,"
explained Ten Cate after the game. "I wanted to reward him for
that. His return was one of the highlights of this evening.
It's also nice that Edgar Manucharyan played the full 90
minutes. We advanced to the next round without sustaining
any damage. My three defenders [Stam, Grygera and Vermaelen,
ed.] were great. They were focused and played really well."
And that was it. There wasn't much more to say, except
that the boys in Vak 410 kept singing and bouncing up and down
for almost 90 minutes and that the away end was, once again,
empty. For at least three seasons, Ajax and ADO Den Haag will
leave their supporters at home for their head-to-head
confrontations, the sad aftermath of the
hooligan attack on the ADO clubhouse in February of
this year.
Ajax vs ADO Den Haag: 2-0. That was that. The Ajax
supporters can now talk about the game they
were already talking about anyway... (MP)
GOALS
- 08' 1-0 Jaap Stam
- 65' 2-0 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Referee: Van Hulten
Cards: none
Attendance: 7,909
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Ogararu,
Stam, Grygera, Vermaelen; Maduro (46. Emanuelson), Perez
(58. Roger), Lindenbergh; Rosales (70. Mitea), Huntelaar,
Manucharyan.
ADO Den Haag line-up: Zwinkels; Vreven,
Bunjevcevic, Kum, Bosschaart; Bodde, Knopper (46. Delorge),
Schwiebbe, Tininho; Elia (87. Verhoek), Mols (65. Kolk).
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