Oh dear... Ajax 'forget' to score, Slavia win at ArenA
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Champions League Qualifier
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Wednesday, 15 August, 2007
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Oh dear... this feels like 'Copenhagen all over again':
Ajax's Champions League participation is in serious peril
after an unnecessary and deeply shocking 0-1 home
stumble to Slavia Prague. The Amsterdammers played poorly, and
it really says a lot about the quality of Slavia that Ajax
got five or six clear-cut chances nonetheless. They wasted them
all and, in all honesty, their football was totally and utterly
unconvincing. Thank God this was only the first leg. With all
due respect: FC Copenhagen were a considerably better side than
this Slavia Prague team. Let's put it bluntly: it would be an
absolute scandal if Ajax crash out of the Champions League at
the hands of this lot, last season's runners-up from the
Czech Republic.
The majopr question beforehand: how was Henk ten Cate
going to fill the midfield void left created
by Edgar Davids' injury and Wesley Sneijder's transfer to
Real Madrid? He came up with a surprising solution: Gabri and
Heitinga were the expected defensive midfield
troops (with Urby Emanuelson occupying the left
flank, as a left fullback and left midfielder at the same
time), but the man at the 'number 10' position was
not Kennedy Bakirçioglü (who used to play at '10'
regularly at FC Twente), but Luis Suárez, who - as
he admitted after the match - "had not played there since
I was a ten year-old kid." Kennedy, meanwhile,
started on the left wing, a position he's unfamiliar
with (unlike... Luis Suárez, who used to have a
'Babel role' at FC Groningen).
The goal is empty, but Luis
Suárez will actually manage to volley this
this one over the cross-bar... [Photo: Ajax.nl]
A slightly mysterious Ten Cate decision, so it seemed, but
it didn't appear to be much of a problem for Ajax. At a
painfully empty Amsterdam ArenA (how on earth is it possible
for such an important fixture?), it was clear from the outset
what kind of a match Ajax vs Slavia was going to be: the Czechs
leaned back and dug in just in front of their penalty
area, waiting for that one opportunity to counter-attack. Ajax
attacked: cautiously and slowly. The Amsterdammers were visibly
nervous (if not afraid), with many sloppy passes
and opportunistic crosses from midfield as a result.
Yet, in the first half it didn't feel as if Ajax were going
to get a difficult evening. All that Slavia did was defend, but
they weren't even good at it. Even their unconincing opposition
on the night had three or four clear-cut opportunities in
the first half. John Heitinga's 11th minute attempt (on a
cross from Kennedy) hit the post; the rebound
could almost be touched by Suárez.
Six minutes later Urby Emanuelson, who otherwise had an
absolute stinker, gave a perfect, low cross from the left,
which bounced right in front of goalkeeper Vaniak,
who timed poorly and failed to intercept. The result
was a 24-carate scoring chance from close range, an
absolute sitter in front of an empty goal, for Luis
Suárez. The young Uruguayan, however, came sliding
in and powered the ball over the cross-bar.
22nd minute: Suárez hammers the ball into the
side-netting from a tight angle, after a Kennedy
corner-kick. 28th minute: Kennedy crosses from the left,
Vermaelen's header is a bit powerless and trickles wide.
35th minute: fine free-kick from Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Many
goalkeepers would have been beaten, but not Vaniak, who punches
the ball out of the top corner. 45th minute: Luis
Suárez graciously slips past two defenders, cuts to the
middle and fires. Great save from Vaniak.
As you can see: chances aplenty. Just like last season
against FC København. The difference: against the Danes,
Ajax actually played wonderfully well in the first half. Let it
be said: this wasn't the case against Slavia. There was
something annoyingly naive and predictable to Ajax's play.
Everyone at the ArenA could see that Slavia were mediocre
at the very best, but the truth is that Ajax totally failed to
impose their will on the Czechs. Ajax's chances seemed
'little accidents': individual attempts, one time
a sudden opportunity because a Czech
defender missed the ball in an attempt to clear.
Ismael Urzaiz made his official
Ajax-1 début,
but was unable to make a difference for Ajax. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Did Slavia Prague create any danger at the other end? Not
much, but their single chance of the first half was a great
one. In the 31st minute, Petr Janda could suddenly pull the
trigger at the far post of Ajax's goal. The angle was tight,
but Janda's shot would have slammed into the upper ninety
if it wasn't for Maarten Stekelenburg's fantastic reflex.
Second half - and Ajax were getting more and more afraid.
Just when they were starting to look like a very simple kick
'n' rush side, Luis Suárez decided that he knows the
fine art of diving: okay, Tavares pulled his shirt for a
split second, but it was enough for Suárez to draw
in his legs like an airplane would retract its landing gear
after take-off, and dive to the grass. Referee Meyer
rewarded it with a penalty, which was very poorly taken by
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and easily saved by goalkeerper
Vaniak. An hour had been played and the missed penalty was
a turning point. From now on you could almost
hear team and supporters think: oh dear, it's not
going to be one of those nights again, is it?
Penalty, says the ref.
Stekelenburg and Emanuelson can't believe it. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
Ajax created one more major opportunity: Gabri gave
Suárez a free passage, but goalkeeper Vaniak stormed out
of his goal to deny the Uruguayan. Seven minutes later,
the scenario from Ajax's worst nightmares started to
unfold. It all started with Jurgen Colin's umpteenth terrible
pass of the evening. Stanislav Vlcek picked it up
and stormed towards the penalty area, where he was very,
very lightly touched by Urby Emanuelson. Not a penalty, of
course, but referee Meyer had awarded Ajax a questionable
one earlier - and decided to do the same at the other
end. David Kalivoda showed Klaas-Jan Huntelaar how it
should be done: 0-1 (76').
Oh dear.
Henk ten Cate did the only thing he could do: he brought on
the 'battering ram' he was so happy to add to his squad
this summer, Ismael Urzaiz. The Basque veteran walks like an
old man, but is fitter than he seems to be: he actually
does win everything in the air. Ajax had
been lobbing balls into the box like a Scottish third
division side all evening. Now, they finally landed on the head
of an Ajacied. But it made no difference. Ajax had lost the
plot and the game.
Oh, the disappointment. It could have been 2-1 to Ajax.
Or 3-1. Or 4-1. But even if that had happened: Ajax simply
didn't convince. There wasn't a single minute of smooth,
fast one-touch football, let alone 'total football'. Slavia are
not a European top side. They are not even from the B
category. But Ajax simply couldn't crack 'em, never
looked fundamentally superior to the Czechs and totally
failed to dictate the game.
Jurgen Colin? With all due respect: a disaster. Perhaps he
was having a bad one, and we're not going to slag him off after
two official games, but he showed why he wasn't even an
undisputed starter for Norwich City in the English
Championship. Urby Emanuelson? Hardly any better. It seems
like he really needs his idol, Edgar Davids, to keep him awake.
John Heitinga? Remarkably poor. Really needs to translate his
aggression into something constructive. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar?
Worked hard, but had no support. Luis Suárez? Energetic
and promising, but let's hope he can be a bit more
efficient.
There were upsides, too: Kennedy Bakirçioglü was
Ajax's only creative thinker on the day. He was played out
of position, but still radiated football intelligence and
a certain class. He'll be alright. Ajax's best man on the
day, however, was Thomas Vermaelen, the main figure in last
season's København tragedy: he was calm
and flawless, and passed well, too.
Henk ten Cate refused to be gloomy or pessimistic after the
game: "We're a bit depressed at the moment, but it's not over
yet. Had we converted just one or two of our chances tonight,
we could have travelled to Prague with all the confidence in
the world. We'll get our chances over there. For
sure."
Perhaps he's right. He can hardly afford to be wrong.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the next day: "We'll fix it in
Prague." Why so sure? "Because we have
to." (Menno Pot)
GOALS
- 76' 0-1 David
Kalivoda (penalty)
Referee: Meyer (Germany)
Yellow cards: Stekelenburg, Colin,
Heitinga (Ajax), Vlcek, Taveres, Senkerik (SK Slavia
Praha)
Attendance: 30,092
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Colin,
Stam, Vermaelen; Gabri, Heitinga, Suárez (72. Urzaiz),
Emanuelson; Rommedahl (82. Sarpong), Huntelaar, Kennedy.
SK Slavia Praha line-up: Vaniak;
Krajcik, Suchy, Brabec, Drizdal; Senkerik, Svec, Janda (86.
Belaid), Taveres; Kalivoda (80. Volesak), Vlcek (89.
Botelho).
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