Gatorade Cup: Young Ajax beat Cambuur in memorable game
Young Ajax - Cambuur Leeuwarden: 3-1
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Tuesday, 20 September, 2005
Young Ajax, the Ajax reserves, have given the Ajax
supporters some unforgettable nights of cup football in recent
seasons. Remember Jason Culina's unforgettable last second
strike against FC Twente in December 2001, Young Ajax's
heroic battle against FC Utrecht in the semi-final of March
2002 or their elimination of Willem II in December 2002...? That's why it was
a little bit disappointing that only 965 spectators showed up
for Young Ajax's second round fixture in the Gatorade Cup
(formerly the Amstel Cup) against First Division side Cambuur
Leeuwarden. It was a spectacular and undforgettable evening
once again: the Ajax rookies defeated yet another
'grown-up' opponent, but what really made the
encounter especially were the bizarre, hilarious events
between the 72nd and 75th minutes...
What happened?
Young Ajax were 2-0 up when the team's mercurial left
winger Derk Boerrigter required treatment for an injury. The
Frisian opponents were kind enough to play the ball across the
sideline, Boerrigter was back on his feet in no-time and
-- as you do -- Young Ajax took the throw and wanted
to return the ball to Cambuur. Young Ajax's Flemish
midfielder Jan Vertonghen was the man to pass it back
to them. He decided to kick it back to Cambuur's
goalkeeper, Peter van der Vlag, from 40, possibly 45 yards'
distance. Van der Vlag did not expect this and by the
time he saw Vertonghen's long pass coming, it was
already too late: the ball sailed straight into the top
corner of the Cambuur goal, landing beautifully in the far
side netting.
Van der Vlag spread his arms in despair, as if he wanted to
say: "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Vertonghen
himself was too flabbergasted to react. A few Cambuur
players came towards him to ask whether this was his
intention or not. Stanley Aborah, meanwhile, decided to be
practical about it and congratulated Vertonghen on his great
goal. Referee Van Meenen quickly thumbed through the
'rules-of-play manual' in his mind and decided that
there was no other option than to count the goal. He
could hardly disallow it... It was 3-0, much to Cambuur's
dismay and Ajax's embarrassment.
The spectators were in stitches while Vertonghen
apologized personally to almost every Cambuur player, including
the goalkeeper. After some brief 'summit
talks' with Young Ajax coach John van den Brom the
Amsterdammers decided that there was only one way to make up
for this 'accident': they had to give Cambuur a free
passage straight from kick-off, letting them score a goal.
Young Ajax's defenders all stepped aside for striker Thijs
Houwing, who was soon on his way to (substitute)
goalkeeper Henrik Moisander, who let Houwing make it
3-1. For some mysterious reason (they were probably still
confused...) Cambuur were in so much of a hurry, and the
pass on Houwing was so hard, that the ball had almost
trickled across the goal-line for a goal-kick to Ajax...
As hilarious as the incident was, in the fifteen
minutes that followed it appeared to have completely destroyed
Young Ajax's concentration. For the first time in the whole
game the Frisian 'adults' were dominant and managed to create a
serious scoring chance. They hit the post. At the other end
Yannis Anastasiou had a similarly great chance to make it
4-1 in the last minute. It was arguably the very first time he
did something good, and even this time his attempt wasn't
perfect: it hit the post.
Vertonghen, after the game: "I just wanted to kick the ball
forward, in order to win some time. But no-one believed me! I
apologized to everyone, including the 'keeper: sorry, sorry. My
first game at the ArenA and then this... I'll never forget
it."
Added John van den Brom: "There was a lot of commotion. I
thought: this can not be."
Until the bizarre incident in the 72nd minute Young
Ajax were very convincing indeed, after they had suffered three
defeats in a row (two in the league and one in a friendly).
They outplayed Cambuur in the first half and took an early lead
as Nourdin Boukhari calmly fired under Van der Vlag on a
Stanley Aborah thru-pass in the 13th minute. The Young
Ajacieden played well: their passing was fast and accurate
and there was always a free man. It was the perfect first
half for Juanfran to make his official début in the Ajax
jersey. The Spaniard did not do many noteworthy things, but
played as well as the others and was replaced on the one hour
mark.
Young Ajax's second goal, by no-one else than Jan
Vertonghen, was of outstanding beauty. The Belgian received the
ball on the corner of the penalty area on the left flank,
dribbled for a second and decided to shoot on goal. The ball
diagonally slammed home into the far top corner, a
superb goal reminiscent of Jason Culina's famous strike
for Young Ajax in precisely the same 'upper ninety' in front of
the F-Side stand. At that point, Vertonghen could not know that
this fantastic shot would eventually not be the most
memorable goal of the evening...
Cambuur Leeuwarden were never in the game until the 72nd
minute and failed to create scoring chances. Their most
dangerous moment was a fine attack over the left flank early in
the second half. Former Ajax man Mitchell Piqué was
brought down in the penalty area and could have been awarded a
penalty, but referee Van Meenen did not think so.
It was a memorable night of Young Ajax cup footie. Again.
The Ajax reserves are in the third round of the Gatorade Cup
(draw on Wednesday evening) and will hopefully be able to
keep it up in the Beloftencompetitie, in
which they had a poor start. (MP)
GOALS
- 1-0 Nourdin Boukhari
- 2-0 Jan Vertonghen
- 3-0 Jan Vertonghen
- 3-1 Thijs Houwing
Referee: Van Meenen
Yellow cards: unknown
Attendance: 965
Young Ajax (starting) line-up:
Vermeer; Koenders, Schilder, Vermaelen, Juanfran; Tiberkanine,
Aborah, Vertonghen; Sahadewsing, Anastasiou, Boukhari.
Cambuur Leeuwarden (starting) line-up:
Van der Vlag; Nijssen, Brack, De Wagt, Zimmerman; Roosenburg,
Bronkhorst, Moreno; Mulders, Stegeman, Karim.
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