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Match Report: Ajax 3 - RKC 0
Sober 3-0 victory over RKC
The grass surface in the Amsterdam ArenA has been a big
problem ever since the stadium was built four years ago. Every
couple of months, an entirely new field is bought in from far
away districts and placed directly onto the concrete floor.
Thursday marked the debut of pitch number 23, and this time the
field came all the way from Germany. It was probably the worst
one ever. The field was as slippery as frozen water, and the
ArenA looked like an ice rink.
The players could hardly stand on their feet, and it was a
miracle that there were no injuries directly caused by these
embarrassing circumstances. Ajax seemed to have the best ice
dancers and won with a sober but solid 3-0 effort over RKC,
thereby recapturing the 4th position in the standings.
After just nine minutes, Nicos Machlas capitalized on his
first chance of the match. The striker, who returned to the
team after a short visit to Greece because of the birth of his
second child, immediately made clear that Adriaanse and Ajax
can't really do without him. In an almost off-side position he
got the ball from Wamberto and fired a self-assured shot under
the diving RKC goal keeper Van Dijk to open the scoring.
This was an important goal, because RKC had shown this
competition that they won't give goals away too easily. In
their thirteen previous matches, they only allowed ten goals.
And with Ajax' goal average of only two per match, an early
strike was the perfect start.
But the Ajax team didn't really profit from the early goal.
Right after the 1-0 the best chances of the first half fell to
the Waalwijkers. A lack of concentration in the Ajax defense
could be attributed to the substition of Tom Sier for the
injured Chivu.
The young Romanian hurt his knee while he made a misstep
during a sprint. It was an unfortunate moment that had nothing
to do with the slippery field conditions. The severity of the
injury is as yet uncertain, but he'll miss the next game
against Heerenveen for sure. Chivu told AT5 news that he had
the same type of injury two years ago which cost him two
months' recovery at that time.
In the absence of Chivu, Tom Sier played in the left back
position while Tim de Cler took over Chivu's duties in the
center of defense. In that period RKC got great scoring
chances. First De Cler saved a shot from Cornelisse just at the
goal line and a minute , and then Grim, who was available
because his red card suspension against Utrecht was overturned
by KNVB, superbly saved another great scoring chance by
Cornelisse.
De Cler, who was supposed to be loaned out to Belgian
satellite club Germinal Beerschot Antwerp, played another great
match. His rushes and passes were a feast for the eyes. Ajax
coach Adriaanse was satisfied with the performances of the
22-year old: "De Cler is a full member of the A-selection, but
won't play if everyone is fit. He was about to leave for GBA,
but we delayed that until at least the winter break. If he
keeps playing like this we'll just keep him here. The same goes
for Tom Sier. Two weeks ago there was some interest for him,
but Tom is no longer allowed to leave Ajax."
In the second half the defense improved. RKC couldn't create
any dangerous moments, and the best chances were for Ajax,
although they were few as well. Six minutes into the second
half, Machlas scored his second goal of the evening and by that
time the match was effectively over.
Adriaanse replaced Witschge and Wamberto with Van der Meijde
and Arveladze, which had the effect of creating even more power
in the front since Ajax could now play with four strikers,
without losing control of the midfield.
Witschge wasn't pleased at all by this decision. Witschge,
playing his first match since his injury, knew that this was
his chance to show his strength at the left side of midfield.
Van der Vaart, the gifted 17-year old who has kept Witschge on
the bench the last few weeks, was unavailable on Thursday
because of national Under-18 team duties.
Adriaanse stated that the substitution didn't have anything
to do with the performance of Witschge, that it was a tactical
move. Nevertheless Witschge seemed rather frustrated and
disobeyed the Ajax rule which mandates a player stays on the
bench after being substituted - to watch the rest of the game.
Instead, Witschge went straight to the changing room.
Adriaanse wasn't amused by this reaction: "Everybody makes a
great song and dance about team building, and team
building means that you work up to a match together, that you
work together during a match and that you watch how your
colleagues are doing when you have been substituted in a match.
So you don't take a bath or shower at that time."
And so while Witschge was having his bath (or shower), he
didn't see his colleague Arveladze score Ajax' third goal of
the evening. With a nice curling shot, the Georgian player
showed what he's capable of when he is on form.
The 3-0 victory was perhaps more than Ajax deserved. The
game wasn't spectacular, but if a big victory with conservative
play is only reserved for top teams, Ajax is probably on its
way back. (BV)
GOALS
- 1-0 Nicos Machlas (9)
- 2-0 Nicos Machlas (51)
- 3-0 Shota Arveladze (87)
Referee: Sterk
Bookings: De Graeff, Cornelisse (RKC)
Attendance: 25,000
Ajax line-up: Grim; Bergdølmo, Pasanen, Chivu
(30. Sier) en De Cler; Winter, Galásek, Witschge (63.
Van der Meyde); Van der Gun, Machlas en Wamberto (63.
Arveladze).
RKC line-up: Van Dijk; Lamey (82. Peppinck),
Nascimento, Van den Berg en Kalezic; Gudjohnsson, Petrovic en
De Graef (66. Human); Cornelisse, Hoogendorp en Van Dinteren
(73. Lanckohr).
