Ajax draw at Feyenoord to remain top
| 2 (1) |
2 (0) |
Eredivisie
De Kuip, Rotterdam
Sunday, 11 Nov 2007
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De Jong celebrates his go-ahead goal with teammates. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
A roaring atmosphere, more than 40,000 worked up Feyenoord fans with sky-high expectactions, a fantastic 'TIFO' choreography before the game and an aggressive home side in the opening phase… It all typifies the one and only Classic in Dutch football, but this Classic was not like previous editions. Feyenoord are back in the top three of the Dutch Eredivisie. This season's team are a determined lot that won't roll over against their much hated arch-enemies from the capital. This was going to be a real game. No-one thought it was going to be easy for Ajax – and it sure as hell wasn't.
With Gabri (back after one game's suspension) and Urby Emanuelson (back from injury) in midfield and John Heitinga and Gregory van der Wiel in the heart of defence, Ajax knew that Feyenoord were going to start furiously – and so they did. Striker Roy Makaay could actually have opened the scoring in the very first minute. He had intelligently sneaked away from Gregory van der Wiel when the thru-ball came, something that would happen more frequently in the first half, which was – all in all - dominated by the home side.
Ajax were not overpowered or outclassed in the first 25 minutes, but Feyenoord were more determined, more powerful in duels and (most importantly) they won the battle in midfield, where Gabri was the only Ajax man to get stuck with the same determination as Feyenoord's Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Jonathan de Guzman. No surprise that most of the danger was created by Feyenoord, if only because the shakiness of Ajax's defence remains coach Adrie Koster's number one worry. He has excuses (Stam retired, Vermaelen injured), but oh dear, were Ajax shaky at the back. Maarten Stekelenburg reacted adequately when Roy Makaay showed up in front him in the 17th minute. Van Bronckhorst's attempt (22') went just wide.
At the other end, the Amsterdammers were threatening once or twice, but Luis Suárez really was the only dangerous man. Feyenoord's opening goal, after 28 minutes of play, hardly came as a surprise and underscored the fact that the Rotterdammers really have much more quality than in recent seasons. Luigi Bruins dribbled on the left and Roy Makaay tapped Bruins' fine pass back for an onstorming Giovanni van Bronckhorst, whose first-time left-footed shot was unstoppable for Maarten Stekelenburg: 1-0 and the equipment of seismographs in the area must have indicated an earthquake.
For ten minutes or so, the game really seemed to slip out of the Amsterdammers' control. Stekelenburg had to save on a shot from De Guzman and Sahin came close to scoring. Ajax recovered a bit in the dying minutes of the first half and goalkeeper Henk Timmer actually had to save a Luis Suárez shot with his legs, but Feyenoord's lead after 45 minutes was a well deserved one, for sure.
So, what did Adrie Koster do during the half-time break? Much to everyone's surprised he replaced Albert Luque and Ajax's most threatening man, Luis Suárez, but it would later appear that he had his reasons: radio and TV reporters claimed that there had actually been a dressing-room scuffle between Luque and Suárez, something that Koster more or less confirmed after the match. "I will admit that something happened during the half-time break and it was something that could not be tolerated. We will discuss this incident in private." Dennis Rommedahl and Kennedy Bakirçioglü replaced the two fighting cocks.
Feyenoord, meanwhile, also had to replace their most dangerous man: Roy Makaay collided with John Heitinga just before half-time and, in the 50th minute, had to call it a day. Veteran Michael Mols replaced him.
Rommedahl…? Mols…? The fans were hardly excited about their respective arrivals, but the substitutions would become key players in the spectacular second half that followed. Two minutes after Roy Makaay had limped off, Ajax's equalizer was on the boards. It was a goal like Feyenoord's: attack from the left (Gabri), a subtle touch from the striker (Huntelaar) and a fantastic shot, in this case from Dennis Rommedahl, who fired the ball past Henk Timmer and into the top corner: 1-1.
Dennis Rommedahl's dramatic equalizer, on Youtube.
The equalizer, so shortly after the half-time break, seemed to hit Feyenoord hard. The home side needed some time to recover, but it came as no surprise that Ajax didn't co-operate. For the first time in the game, it felt like Ajax could deal a decisive blow here and the almost tangible fear of the home crowd became reality in the 67th minute: John Heitinga's free-kick caused unrest in the goalmouth, where Jonathan de Guzman's poor clearance allowed Siem de Jong to fire home diagonally: 1-2 (67'). The young midfielder had been on the pitch for only three minutes. Adrie Koster took a risk by taking off Luque and Suárez, but he triumphed as two of his substitutes turned the game around for Ajax.
De Kuip was now trembling with frustration, rage and, more than anything else, fear. Ajax once again looked like they were going to walk off with the three points. The Amsterdammers should actually have dealt the knock-out blow immediately after De Jong's strike, as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar suddenly had a free passage to Henk Timmer. The striker wasted his opportunity, so that the conclusion became inevitable: Huntelaar played poorly and failed when his moment arrived… this just wasn't his day.
Feyenoord were still alive and could start their siege for the equalizer against ten Ajacieden: Adrie Koster had already used his three subs when George Ogararu had to leave the pitch injured. Twenty minutes left to play, 2-1 up, but one man down… Oh dear. This was going to be an exhausting but probably very exciting battle.
It surely was, but what a shame for the visitors that Feyenoord got a helping hand from the by far weakest man on the pitch: referee Franck De Bleekere from Belgium, who was a bit of a scatterbrain from the start, but seriously influenced the result after 72 minutes when Michael Mols crashed down inside the Ajax penalty area. TV footage made clear that Hedwiges Maduro hardly touched him, and that Mols pretty much brough himself down, but De Bleeckere pointed to the spot. And it became even more frustrating for Ajax. Maarten Stekelenburg went to the corner for his fourth (!) consecutive penalty save of the season, but the first man to reach the loose ball was not an Ajax defender but Jonathan De Guzman: 2-2 (74').
Feyenoord were now smelling blood against their numerically inferior opponents and went for the win. Ajax were under pressure. Remaining upright was now their only concern. To the credit of the Amsterdammers: they didn't allow Feyenoord any real chances… until the last minute, in which substitute Andwélé Slory had not one, but two immense opportunities to make De Kuip go mad, face to face with Maarten Stekelenburg, totally unmarked. The first time he stumbled when he wanted to pull the trigger; the second time he fired diagonally wide. It was, in all honesty, a miracle that Ajax survived.
What a Classic it was… Feyenoord were, all in all, the dominant side, but on the other hand: the points could have been in Ajax's pocket by the 70th minute and if one team had the right to complain about the officiating it surely was Ajax. Fact is that Ajax left De Kuip as the moral winners and that they are definitely the most satisfied team after 'Super Sunday' 11 November 2008.
Followers of the Dutch Eredivisie now have two weeks to catch their breath. Ten days of Euro 2008 qualifiers are ahead. Holland, for example, can book their tickets to Austria and Switzerland if they beat Luxembourg. Ajax's next league match is a home game against Vitesse, on Sunday 25 November. (Menno Pot)
Goals:
- 28' 1-0 Giovanni van Bronckhorst
- 52' 1-1 Dennis Rommedahl
- 67' 1-2 Siem de Jong
- 74' 2-2 Jonathan De Guzman
Referee: De Bleeckere
Yellow Cards: Vertonghen, Suárez, Heitinga, Maduro (Ajax), Van Bronckhorst, De Guzman, Sahin (Feyenoord)
Attendance: 42,500
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Ogararu, Heitinga, Van der Wiel (64. De Jong), Vertonghen; Gabri, Maduro, Emanuelson; Suárez (46. Rommedahl), Huntelaar, Luque (46. Kennedy).
- Feyenoord line-up: Timmer; Lucius, Bahia, Hofland, De Cler; Lee (70. Slory), Van Bronckhorst, De Guzman, Sahin; Bruins (80. Wijnaldum), Makaay (50. Mols).
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