KNVB Cup: Ajax visit NAC Breda in fourth round
01 November: Sixteen teams were in the bowl last night, for the draw of the fourth round of the KNVB Cup: seven Eredivisie teams, six First Division sides, two Hoofdklasse amateur outfits and one reserves team, to be precise. Feyenoord striker Roy Makaay paired Ajax with a relatively tough opponent: NAC Breda. The Amsterdammers will travel to Rat Verlegh Stadium on 15, 16 or 17 January 2008, exact date and kick-off time t.b.a. (See update, below.)
Both Ajax and NAC Breda embarrassed themselves in the second round of the cup competition: Ajax required extra time against amateur side Kozakken Boys (1-2), while NAC put the same final score on the boards against the reserves team of First Division side Stormvogels Telstar. Both teams were more convincing in the third round: Ajax cruised past SC Heerenveen (3-1), NAC booked a fine away win at Sparta Rotterdam (2-3).
Today, NAC Breda are 10th in the Eredivisie. That’s the bottom half of the table, but one could also say that the yellow and black from Breda share the 7th slot with Heerenveen, De Graafschap and FC Groningen: all of these four sides have 14 points, but NAC are 10th because of their relatively poor goal-differential.
The January encounter in Breda will be the seventh cup confrontation of the two teams in total. The first two cup matches between Ajax and NAC were cup finals. On 14 June 1961 Ajax had an easy one at The Hague’s Zuiderpark Stadium: 0-3, a triumph that made Ajax the very first Dutch participant in the newly introduced European Cup Winners Cup. On 07 June 1967 Ajax had a considerably tougher time against NAC in the cup final, even though the venue was Ajax’s own De Meer stadium in Amsterdam. A hard-fought win of 2-1 was on the boards after 120 minutes of football – and Ajax could lift the cup.
NAC’s first cup triumph over the Amsterdammers followed on 09 December 1972, in the second round of the competition. Ajax were the reigning champions of The Netherlands, Europe and the world at that point, but they went K.O. in Breda. The score after 120 minutes was 2-2, after which Ajax remarkably failed to convert a single penalty kick in the shoot-out: 3-0 to NAC, who would make it to the final for the third time – and this time they did the business. The KNVB Cup of 1973 went to Breda.
Ten years later, in the 1982-1983 season, times had changed. NAC were struggling in the Eredivisie and would eventually get relegated. On 13 November 1982, once again in the second round and once again in Breda, the yellow and black were not too high a hurdle for the league leaders from the capital: 0-3.
Sixteen years would pass until the next cup match between Ajax and NAC. Ajax had moved to the Amsterdam ArenA and the KNVB Cup had become the Amstel Cup. On 11 March 1998, Morten Olsen’s Ajax had lost only one Eredivisie game and they scored more than three goals per game on average, but Ajax were still recovering from their UEFA Cup collapse against a painfully superior Spartak Moscow (1-3 at the ArenA). NAC were a tough nut to crack in the cup, but Ajax did the job (2-1) and advanced to eventually win the trophy.
The most recent cup confrontation between the two teams was on 17 December 2003 at the Amsterdam ArenA. On a very cold evening NAC booked their second ever cup triumph over Ajax: 0-1, courtesy of striker Ali Boussaboun.
When Ajax and the KNVB announce the date and kick-off time for the seventh ever cup encounter of NAC Breda and Ajax, Ajax USA will update this news report accordingly. (Menno Pot)
Update: Ajax.nl announced the date and kick-off time for the NAC Breda vs Ajax cup game today. It will be played on Wednesday 16 January 2008, kick-off 20:45 CET.
The fourth round draw in full:
- RKC Waalwijk - FC Haarlem
- NAC Breda – Ajax
- VV Deurne - Feyenoord
- Heracles Almelo – FC Den Bosch
- FC Dordrecht – AGOVV Apeldoorn
- Roda JC - Excelsior
- NEC - FC Zwolle
- Quick Boys – Young SC Heerenveen
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