Rangers and Ajax settle for 1-1 draw at Ibrox
1 (1) - 1
(0)
Pre-Season Friendly
Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland
Tuesday, 24 July, 2007
An interesting match is not necessarily the same thing
as a good match, and Rangers vs Ajax (the
Amsterdammers' first serious pre-season testcase) proved this
point. The encounter, in front of a wonderfully large
crowd at Glasgow's Ibrox Stadium, was never good:
it was clear that both teams are still preparing for the new
season. They were a bit sloppy and lacked the 'rhythm'
that they will surely have found once the
season really begins. Yet, it surely was an
interesting game, that told us a thing or two about
Ajax - and where the team are standing at the moment.
The major question beforehand: what will Henk ten Cate do
now that Edgar Davids is
out for three months or more? Perhaps Ajax will
sign someone to replace him, the Ajax boss told newspaper
Het Parool ("We're looking into the options, in
Holland and abroad, but we're not going to do anything
rash"), but what if they don't? It was interesting to
see Ten Cate experiment against Rangers, especially when it
appeared that Ajax were also going to be without Gabri
(migraine!) and Jaap Stam, whose minor hip
injury was a reason for Ten Cate
to take no risk and leave his captain out of the
team. No Stam, no Davids, no Gabri... the absence of
the team's three most experienced players, and most
important 'fighters' at the same time, automatically
made Ajax a bit light-weight.
Ten Cate opted for a rather surprising (and
surprisingly offensive) 3-4-3 formation with Hedwiges
Maduro as the central defender, Jürgen Colin and Thomas
Vermaelen as the two fullbacks and the two usual
fullbacks (Ogararu and Emanuelson) as the two outer
midfielders. Another major surprise was the presence
of young Johnny Goossens on the left wing, one day before
his 19th birthday.
Ogararu played in the midfield of a restructured Ajax line-up.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
Quite an experiment, and so it showed in the opening
phase: the team was clearly thrown out of balance and were
- understandably - short of players who know how to get stuck
in against the ever-physical Scots. Rangers were the dominant
force in the first half and after 19 minutes Maarten
Stekelenburg had to pick the ball out of the net for the
first time in the pre-season campaign. The scorer was
Carlos Cuellar, Rangers' new central defender. Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar was supposed to fall back if
Cuellar moved forward, and mark him on set pieces,
but the Ajax striker only seemed to remember the first
part of that instruction: on Adam's 19th minute corner he
did follow Cuellar back to the penalty box, but
he 'forgot' to mark him, allowing him an unmarked (and
unmissable) header opportunity from close range: 1-0 (19').
In the remainder of the first half Rangers had one or two
clear-cut opportunities to double their lead (including one for
McCulloch, whose shot went just wide). Ajax's only
noteworthy offensive moment was a shooting opportunity for
Kennedy from the edge of the box. His attempt was punched clear
by goalkeeper McGregor without much difficulty.
"At half-time I used the
black-board to explain how I wanted us to play," said
Henk ten Cate after the game - and he must have done a good
job: Ajax were much more convincing in the
second half, which saw the unofficial Ajax début of
Dennis Rommedahl, who quite surprisingly became Ajax's
best and definitely most threatening player on the night.
The second half started with a major scoring opportunity for
Boyd, whose header was tipped over the cross-bar by
Stekelenburg, but after that it was all Ajax for at least 30
minutes. The Amsterdammers' passing was suddenly more
accurate, they sometimes showed fine one-touch
football and pushed Rangers back into their own half.
John Heitinga (not exactly Ajax's best man, by the
way) levelled the score by firing the ball under
McGregor from inside the penalty area (61'), after splendid
work from Kennedy (build-up) and Rommedahl (perfectly
placed low cross) on the right.
Heitinga celebrates after scoring the equalizer. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
And there were more chances. Kennedy Bakirçioglü
could actually have scored twice in the second half.
First, an erratic backpass gave Ajax's right
winger a free passage, but he was denied stylishly by the
Rangers 'keeper. Immediately after Heitinga's
goal, another fine Rommedahl cross gave him an
unmarked opportunity at the far post, but the angle was
tight and McGregor reacted well when Kennedy
failed to control the ball in one touch. Ajax could have turned
the game around in this phase, but in all
honesty: 1-1 was a fair result based on the full 90
minutes. Ajax could be reasonably satisfied, given the
absence of the threesome that may be regarded as the
team's backbone and engine at the same time.
"We were totally dominant in the first half hour after the
break," Henk ten Cate said. "Which is a good thing against
an opponent like Rangers. We have a young squad and this
was our first serious game of the campaign. All in all, I'm
pretty satisfied. We've been in training for two and a half
weeks and I really think we're heading into the right
direction."
Next up: two days of heavy training at the grounds of
Stirling University, followed by the second 'Scotland
friendly', on Saturday, at Falkirk FC. (MP)
Quotes from Ajax.nl and Het Parool
GOALS
- 19' 1-0 Carlos Cuellar
- 61' 1-1 John Heitinga
Referee: Clark
Yellow cards: Darcheville (Rangers FC),
Kennedy (Ajax)
Attendance: 32,770
Ajax
line-up: Stekelenburg; Colin, Maduro (80.
Anita), Vermaelen; Ogararu, Heitinga, Sneijder (74. Donald),
Emanuelson; Kennedy, Huntelaar, Goossens (46. Rommedahl).
Rangers FC line-up: McGregor;
Hutton, Weir, Cuellar, Papac (50. Broadfoot); McCulloch (60.
Beasley), Hemdani, Ferguson, Adam; Darcheville (60. Burke),
Boyd (75. Sebo).
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