January 1990
Ajax… Fifteen Years Ago
A great 1990 to you all!
May the new year finally bring Ajax the first Dutch
championship since 1985. The year 1989 was bad enough (the only
truly memorable 'milestone' was the 'bar incident' against
Austria Vienna...), but once again: here's to better times!
Speaking of the 'bar incident': there's plenty of activity
at De Meer during the winter break: a local construction
company is busy turning the ground into a fortress. After
the incident the Ajax board came to the conclusion that
the club's home ground no longer meets the requirements of
modern football. Drastic alterations were announced, to make
sure that a similar tragedy will never happen again.
The old ground of 1934 will not exactly become a nicer
place, unfortunately. 'Safety corridors' are created at the
front of each section by placing extra fences, extra rolls of
barbed wire and, finally, a high fence of meshed wire behind
both goals, so that objects can no longer be thrown on the
pitch. The view from the ends does not exactly improve...
Large, red containers are placed in front of the section
entrances, in order to make it harder to sneak in (or
out). The total capacity that was once 29,000 is now down to
19,000.
From
stadium to fortress: alterations to De Meer. [Photo: Lengte
Archive]
Leo Beenhakker and his team return to the training pitch as
early as Tuesday 02 January, knowing that they must fly to
Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday for a lucrative tournament
sponsored by Philips. The first opponent in Benfica's great
Estadio da Luz ('Stadium of Light') is none other than
PSV (what would a Philips Cup tourney be without them?). Ajax
take the friendly seriously and are clearly the better side in
the first half, which - by the way - marks the return of
defender Peter Larsson after a period of recovery from
injury.
The reward for Ajax's energetic play comes five minutes into
the second half (goal by Bryan Roy), but PSV equalize almost
immediately (Romario converts a penalty). The team to pull into
the final of the tournament, however, is Ajax after all:
subsitute Ronald de Boer makes it 2-1 in the 77th minute. If
only the same result could be booked next month at the Olympic
Stadium, when it will be for real...
Back
in training at De Meer, January 1990.
After four days of training in the pleasant January sun of
Portugal, it's time for the final against Sporting Lisbon.
Ajax's experiences against Portugese sides have been extremely
negative in recent years - and the game on 10 January is no
exception: the Amsterdammers can't break Sporting's defense and
thanks two razor-sharp counter-attacks (finished by Cadete and
Silas, respectively) the Philips Cup goes to Sporting.
Earlier than usual, on Sunday 14 January, Ajax return to
serious business: a tough away game at FC Twente, in the third
round of the KNVB Cup. The last two Eredivisie fixtures in
Enschede were lost, but this time it's all different. Ajax look
solid and the big man for the Amsterdammers is former Twente
striker Ron Willems. He opens the scoring just before the
half-time break - and secures Ajax's quarter final slot in the
56th: 0-2. That same evening the draw determines that Ajax once
again have a tough road game ahead in the quarter final: at
Fortuna Sittard on 14 February.
The second half of January is quiet. The first league game
of 1990 is still two weeks away (04 February) and the only
distraction are training sessions and a quickly arranged
friendly at NAC, who got relegated in 1985 and have since
played a modest role in the the First Division. Beenhakker
fields his strongest possible line-up, but the players can't be
bothered. Stefan Pettersson scores twice (in the 18th and 56th
minutes) in an uninspired display. Dennis van der Gijp brings
the hosts back into the game (58') - and that's it: 1-2 is the
final score.
The NAC friendly was added to Ajax's agenda for no other
reason than to kill some time. Ajax are itching to resume the
Eredivisie. Sunday 28 January is the day. At least, it was
supposed to be: on Saturday 27 January The Netherlands is
swept by a historically heavy hurricane, which lifts the
roof off Sparta's home ground in Rotterdam. Sparta vs
Ajax, scheduled for the next day, is postponed for safety
reasons, much to the frustration of the Amsterdammers, who will
now have to wait 'til 04 February.
PSV did play two league fixtures in
January: a hard-fought 2-1 win was booked against
Willem II (27 January) and, one week earlier, a point
dropped in a postponed match at relegation candidates Den Bosch
(1-1). Ajax enter the second half of the league four
points behind PSV, but with a game in hand. The
Amsterdammers are - once again - full of good hopes that
1990 will be the year in which the spell can be broken.
(MP)
Next month:
- KNVB Cup quarter final: Fortuna away
- The 'Big One': Ajax vs PSV!
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