Amstel Cup: Controversial goal knocks Young Ajax out
FC Twente - Young Ajax: 1-0
Arke Stadium, Enschede
Tuesday, 16 December, 2003
"This error by the referee is unacceptable. It's perfectly
understandable that he interrupted the game, but of course he
has to keep in mind where and how to resume the game. This is
scandalous and we haven't heard the last of this, if you ask
me." John van 't Schip was hardly able to hide his
anger after the Amstel Cup elimination of his boys by FC
Twente, the club with which - ironically -
he got knocked out of the Dutch cup by
Young Ajax in December 2001. The second cup confrontation
between FC Twente and the Ajax reserves brought Van 't
Schip another defeat, this time as the coach of Young Ajax.
The reason for Van 't Schip's fury were the events in the
decisive 73rd minute of the game, a minute that
actually was 15 to 20 minutes long and was concluded with
the only goal of the evening, scored by Twente's talented young
striker, Collins John. What exactly happened?
It all started with a free kick for FC Twente, which was
taken in front of the Ajax goal. Maarten Stekelenburg went for
the ball, punched it away, thereby colliding heavily with
Twente's Chris van der Weerden, much to the anger of the
fanatical Twente fans behind his goal. While
substitute Jamal Akachar kicked the ball across the
sideline, anti-Semitic chants rolled from the stands,
which gave referee Luyten enough reason to blow his
whistle and interrupt the game.
After former Twente and Ajax player Jan van Halst
had urged the crowd to calm down, the teams returned to the
pitch after a 'cooling down period' of just over 15 minutes.
The Young Ajax defenders took their position, anticipating
the throw-in which Twente was about to take when the game
was broken off. Much to their surprise, however, Luyten pointed
to the corner flag, allowing FC Twente to resume the game with
a corner-kick. After some brief protests, the Ajacieden
hurried to the penalty box to defend the corner, which was
taken by Adil Ramzi, poorly defended and
subsequently fired home by an unmarked Collins John: 1-0 -
in what was the 17th minute of the 73rd minute...
The inexperienced Ajacieden were unable to change the
tide. Their offensive hardly yielded a dangerous moment,
whereas Twente could have doubled the score on shots by Bas
Sibum (cross-bar) and Adil Ramzi (post). In the last
minute Jose Valencia even had to pull down Ramzi while he
was on a free passage to Stekelenburg. Valencia was
sent off.
It was the frustrating conclusion to a game which Young Ajax
started so promisingly and which, moreover, marked the return
to competitive action of John O'Brien. The American had his
last Ajax-1 appearance on 19 April (at home against Roda
JC) and has been fighting a persistent injury of the Achilles'
tendon ever since. The American started as Young Ajax's
left midfielder, playing under #8, and had a surprisingly good
game. He came across as perfectly match fit and controlled
the ball, passed and chose position as if he'd never been
away. He even could have put Young Ajax in the lead ten
minutes into the second half, as a fluent attack brought
him face-to-face with goalkeeper Paauwe. His attempt
was well-aimed, but slightly too soft, so that
Paauwe was able to save.
John O'Brien returned to
competitive action in the game. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
A Young Ajax lead would have been well-deserved at that
point. After a rather nervous opening, the rookies from De
Toekomst took control of the game, defended resolutely and
often outplayed their Eredivisie opponent with fast and
accurate combinations, particularly over
the right flank, where defender Jerold Promes and
right winger Daniël de Ridder had superb performances. De
Ridder was unstoppable for Twente's left back Sjaak Polak.
Walker's impressive display in midfield also deserves a
mention.
It must be said, however, that Young Ajax created
only two major chances: one after half-time for O'Brien
and one before half-time for Michael Krohn-Dehli, who
played as the #10 and suddenly had an open shooting opportunity
from close range, almost comparible to a penalty. Paauwe
punched his shot out of the top corner.
Over all, however, the best chances were for Twente, who in
the first half saw a Gakhokidze header trickle diagonally wide
and a furious Christensen shot saved by the excellent Maarten
Stekelenburg, after which the rebound was tapped wide by Ramzi.
After a first half that must have embarrassed the
Eredivisie professionals, the home side increased the pressure
in the second half. By the fatal 73rd minute, Young
Ajax was hardly able to escape from the pressure for more than
a few seconds.
On the other hand: the Young Ajax defense, featuring first
team drop-out Petri Pasanen and a superb Jerold Promes and
Thomas Vermaelen, seemed in control of the situation and almost
never panicked. What would have happened
without Luyten's unfortunate black-out...?
Van 't Schip: "My boys could not understand that they'd
lost. While I spoke to them in the dressing room they felt the
game should have been in extra time at that moment."
Immediately after the final whistle an outraged Van 't Schip
wanted to lodge his complaints in the referee's room
of Arke Stadium, but he was pushed out of the door by the
linesmen. Van 't Schip: "No, Luyten himself did not push me.
He let his linesmen do it for him." Later that night the
referee came out with it in front of TV cameras. "I misjudged
the situation," said Luyten, who was described by national
newspaper de Volkskrant the next morning as the
"number one scatterbrain of the Dutch body of referees,
who manages to let even the tamest of games get out of
hand."
Although Luyten will probably be lectured by the KNVB,
it seems highly unlikely that the football association will
take any further action: errors by referees are - after all -
part of the game. As bitter as it is, Young Ajax's third
consecutive run in the 'big' Amstel Cup has come to
a sudden end. But not before two more Top Class
amateur sides, one of the better First Division sides and
- nearly - another Eredivisie side found out the hard
way that the Ajax teenagers have developed into notorious
cupfighters. The apotheosis is frustrating, but Ajax will
soon get the chance to take revenge in the most stylish
way: this Sunday, to be precise, as the first team visits
Enschede. (MP)
Sources: Live report and highlights on SBS6,
Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant
GOAL
Referee: Luyten
Yellow cards: Heubach, Pothuizen, Rahim (FC
Twente), Promes (Young Ajax)
Red card: Valencia (Young Ajax, 90')
Attendance: 8,000
Miscellaneous: The match was interrupted by
referee Luyten in the 73rd minutes for the duration of
approximately 15 minutes, due to abusive yells from
the 'hard core' of Twente fans.
Young Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Promes
(82. Benson Erchiah), Pasanen, Valencia, Vermaelen; Walker,
Krohn-Dehli, O'Brien (72. Muller van Moppes); De Ridder,
Culina, Esajas (69. Akachar).
FC Twente line-up: Paauwe; Van der Weerden
(73. Allach), Pothuizen, Heubach, Polak; Sibum, Rahim,
Gakhokidze; Ramzi, John, Christensen (60. De Visscher).
Young Ajax eliminated
Amstel Cup, 'Round of Sixteen'
results/fixtures:
Tuesday results
FC Twente - Young Ajax: 1-0
Sparta Rotterdam - RBC Roosendaal: 2-0
Heracles Almelo - Hoek: 4-1
PSV - Willem II: 2-0
Wednesday fixtures
Ajax - NAC Breda
SC Heerenveen - NEC
Feyenoord - Vitesse
FC Utrecht - RKC Waalwijk
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