Ajax fly home optimistically despite Stuttgart defeat
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Al Wasl Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Monday, 07 Jan 2008
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It may sound strange after two defeats (one against Inter on penalties and a last-gasp 1-0 stumble against Germany's VfB Stuttgart), but Ajax left the United Arab Emirates in a good mood and convinced that progress has been made, and this wasn't just due to the $300,000 bonus the club received for their seemingly unsuccessful participation in the Mohamed bin Rashid International Football Championship.
"I believe we can leave Dubai with a positive feeling," explained Adrie Koster after the match for 3rd place, against VfB Stuttgart at an almost empty Al-Wasl Stadium. "Edgar Davids and Leonardo returned to action in a successful way. Gregory van der Wiel and Thomas Vermaelen are almost fit and Kenneth Perez has had some time to settle into the team again. We've also played some good football, at times. I was particularly pleased with our performance against Inter. I think we had 70% possession, which is not at all bad against such a great opponent."
Edgar Davids played the entire first half. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Sounds fair. There are, indeed, reasons to believe in a better future. Even the match against Stuttgart had an upside to it: Ajax number one weakness in November and December was their extremely fragile defense. Against the Germans Ajax went down to ten men after only six minutes, as Hedwiges Maduro pulled down striker Sergiu Radu and was sent off, but ten Ajacieden would have booked a more than acceptable 0-0 draw if it wasn't for Alexander Farnerud, who beat Dennis Gentenaar with a beautiful long range shot three minutes before the final whistle: 1-0.
Bummer, but it wasn't a bad display from what was pretty much an Ajax reserves team. Dennis Gentenaar, Jan-Arie van der Heijden, Jurgen Colin, Siem de Jong, hell, even Ismael Urzaiz… they all played from the start. After Maduro's dismissal young Van der Heijden moved to the heart of defense (!).
Ajax were under pressure for most of the first half, as Stuttgart attempted to take advantage of their numerical superiority. Taken by the hand by a very determined Edgar Davids, the Amsterdammers stood tall and did not allow the Bundesliga's current #8 too many scoring opportunities. In the second half, ten Ajacieden actually dominated the fixture and came close to scoring a couple of times, particularly after Koster had brought on the forwards who are normally his starters: Huntelaar, Rommedahl, Suarez and Perez.
The only bad news for Ajax was the injury of Mitchell Donald, who was brought on for the second half and played well again (just like he did against Inter), when he picked up a knock on the Achilles. His injury seemed serious. "A shame," said Koster. "Donald really made progress in Dubai."
Luque. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
And then it was time to fly home, with a $300,000 bonus in the club's pocket (tournament winners Internacional Porto Alegre got a million). There are reasons to be optimistic, but also reasons to be worried. Technical director Martin van Geel stated earlier that it is Ajax's priority to land "Jaap Stam's successor", but a few days later he had to admit that it will be very hard to land a quality defender. FC Groningen's Bruno Silva has been mentioned, but he's a right fullback, not a central defender.
Even if Van Geel does find the defender he's looking for, it probably won't be before Sunday, when Louis van Gaal's AZ visit the Amsterdam ArenA. (Menno Pot)
Goals:
- 87’ 1-0 Alexander Farnerud
Referee: unknown
Yellow Cards: Gentenaar (Ajax)
Red Cards: Maduro (Ajax, 06’)
Attendance:
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Gentenaar; Maduro, Colin, Van der Heijden, Emanuelson; Kennedy (58. Rommedahl), De Jong, Davids (46. Donald [84. Ogararu]); Luque (58. Suarez), Urzaiz (58. Huntelaar), Leonardo (57. Perez).
- VfB Stuttgart line-up: Ulreich; Hilbert, Tasci, Meira, Osorio; Khedira (60. Träsch), Pardo, Bastürk (60. Farnerud), Hitzlsperger (60. Da Silva); Marica (60. Ewerthon), Radu (67. Fischer).
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