Amstel Cup: Culina leads Young Ajax to second round
IJsselmeervogels - Young Ajax: 2-4 a.e.t.
Sportpark De Westmaat, Spakenburg
Tuesday, 12 August, 2003
While the first team was struggling in Austria, Ajax's
reserves team had a similarly tough time in the central Dutch
village of Spakenburg, home of IJsselmeervogels, historically
one of the most succesful amateur clubs in Holland's cup
competition. Young Ajax was on the brink of a first round
elimination, but was taken by the hand by 'Aussie' and
prodigal son Jason Culina. His three goals saw the
Amsterdammers through after extra time: 2-4.
Nourdin Boukhari in action for
Young Ajax. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
It was a bitter comedown for the amateurs, who showed good
football and a healthy fighting spirit throughout the game -
and were only two minutes away from the second round. Then,
Culina stood exactly in the right spot to slot home for his
second goal of the evening: 2-2 (88'). It was the death-blow
for the amateurs, who were playing with ten men since the 36th
minute. Striker Cesar Mendoza was sent off with a red card for
a heavy foul on Robin Muller van Moppes.
The only phase of the game in which Young Ajax showed some
decent football was the opening phase. The Ajax reserves took
the lead as early as in the fifth minute: a Krohn-Dehli corner
was flicked on to Muller van Moppes. The latter's shot was
decisively deflected by Jason Culina: 0-1 (05'). Goalkeeper
Duindam, probably the best man on the pitch, had no chance.
Ajax briefly outplayed the opposition, but ended up almost
becoming the victim of its own laziness. IJsselmeervogels
fought back into the game and came close to equalizing a few
times, due to insecure goalkeeping by Ajax's Finnish newcomer
Henrik Moisander. He was responsible for the equalizer. He
wanted to punch a high ball away, but missed hopelessly and saw
Jan de Graaf nod the ball into the empty goal: 1-1 (27').
Quite remarkably Ajax's play only got worse after the
dismissal of Mendoza and the inevitable happened shortly after
the tea-break: IJsselmeervogels got a well-deserved reward for
its passion, as Moisander could not hold on to a De Graaf shot
and saw striker André Kemper convert the rebound: 2-1
(50').
As the minutes ticked away it seemed over and out for Young
Ajax, especially because the handful of first squad players
(incuding wingers Boukhari and Van der Gun) failed miserably.
There were no chances. Until the 88th minute, that is, as
Culina struck again, completely out of nowhere. In the
remaining minutes as well as the first (and only) fifteen
minutes of extra time the amateurs appeared to have run out of
fuel. They had to bow their heads as Culina (him again) saw the
ball rolling by in a scrimmage - and finished from close range:
2-3 (97').
It was the 'silver goal' for Young Ajax. KNVB and UEFA have
dropped the concept of the 'golden goal' and replaced it by the
'silver goal': when a team scores in extra time, the opposition
has the remainder of the fifteen minute period in which it was
scored to equalize. Culina scored in the first fifteen minute
half of extra time. Exactly eight were remaining. It was too
short for the amateurs. In other words: 90 minutes was just a
couple of minutes too long for them. They grudgingly watched
how Daniël de Ridder converted a Rasmus Lindgren shot that
bounced back from the post, to make it 2-4.
The man of the match, no doubt, was Jason Culina, who scored
some crucial goals in Young Ajax's unforgettable Amstel Cup run
of 2001-2002, was loaned out to Eredivisie side De Graafschap,
got relegated with them and returned to De Toekomst, much
against his will. It did not keep him from once again becoming
the personification of Young Ajax's 'cup fighting'
qualities.
Young Ajax head-coach John van 't Schip, however, wasn't all
too satisfied: "We learned one thing today: you should not
underestimate amateurs. We should not think to ourselves: oh,
we'll be okay. The play I've seen was not good. In my opinion
we didn't have the passion. Only if you have passion your
qualities will show. Perhaps we underestimated them, I don't
know."
How ironic: Van 't Schip's words were also very much
applicable to the match of Ajax-1 in Graz. Lady Luck was in
Graz, Austria on Tuesday night to embrace Ajax-1. Apparently
she sent her younger sister to Spakenburg, to look after Young
Ajax...
A couple of hours later Young Ajax was paired with another
opponent playing in the Top Class of Dutch amateur football:
TEC from the central-eastern town of Tiel. That second round
away fixture, to be played on Tuesday 23 September, is the
opportunity for Young Ajax to show that they know old saying
'once bitten, twice shy'. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, IJsselmeervogels.nl
GOALS
- 05' 0-1 Jason Culina
- 26' 1-1 Jan de Graaf
- 50' 2-1 André Kemper
- 88' 2-2 Jason Culina
- 97' 2-3 Jason Culina
- 102' 2-4 Daniël de Ridder
Referee: Van Sichem
Yellow cards: Heitinga, Rustenberg, Esajas
(Young Ajax), Opschoor (IJsselmeervogels)
Red card: Mendoza (IJsselmeervogels, 36')
Attendance: 2,500
Young Ajax line-up: Moisander; De Jong,
Heitinga, Rustenberg, Vermaelen; Krohn-Dehli, Walker (52.
Esajas), Muller van Moppes (79. Lindgren); Van der Gun (59. De
Ridder), Culina, Boukhari.
IJsselmeervogels line-up: Duindam; Van der
Steen, Van der Lugt, Hartog, Van Breukelen, Opschoor, De Graaf
(66. Koelewijn), Vink (58. Corts), Meijndershagen, Kemper (83.
Van den Heuvel), Mendoza.
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