Holland: a very small football nation indeed!

What a horrible year for Dutch club football it is! Ajax missed the CL this year. Feyenoord didn’t qualify at all. And now, after a dreadful UEFA Cup round, only AZ is – just – the only team left in Europe, with PSV in the Champions League.

Where FC Twente and FC Groningen left the European platform with their heads held high, the former behemoth Ajax (winner of the Big Ears Cup in 71, 72, 73 and 95) should be ashamed. AZ barely managed to get through against the number 17 in the Portuguese competition and Heerenveen…? Well, they got smashed!

AZ played another horrible match at home against the Portuguese. Players – like Jenner but also Donk and De Zeeuw – who couldn’t do anything wrong last seasons made mistake after mistake. And even the new signings, players that took a lot to sign, weren’t able to lift the level of Van Gaal’s team. At the moment, AZ holds the record of non-defeated home-games in Europe (31 games) with Ipswich Town. If AZ wants to better that, they’ll have to step up to the plate soon! But…at least they made it to the group level.

FC Groningen won the hearts of many Dutch fan and maybe even some Italian. With gusto and bravado, FC Groningen took on Fiorentina in Florence and even took the lead in the 2nd half after a beautiful Nevland goal. The Italians equalized and the match had to be decided by penalty-kicks… And Ron Jans’ team missed one penalty too many.

FC Twente lost against Getafe but also against itself. FC Twente did win ( 3-2) but after the 1-0 loss in Spain, it wasn’t enough. Wielaart scored in normal time and brought both teams level. N’Kufo had the chance on the 2-0 with a penalty, but missed. The striker got so frustrated after that, that he hit an opponent and was sent off. With 11 against 10, Getafe – coached by Michael Laudrup – didn’t have a tough job finishing Twente off.

Heerenveen had won against Helsinborg (with Henke Larsson) at home with 5-3, two weeks ago. In Helsinborg, the first 20 minutes, all seemed Hunky Dory. Until the Heerenveen defense started to make some mistakes and at half time the score was 3-0! Heerenveen had to score twice in the second half, but Helsingborg came at 5-0 before Sibon (ex PSV, ex-Ajax) could do something back, 5-1.

Ajax still seems to think it can dominate their opponents. Two weeks ago, Ajax had won 0-1 in Zagreb because it had totally adapted to their playing style. The discipline was all there and since the Amsterdam club didn’t give anything away, confidence grew. But in the Amsterdam Arena, Ajax was much more vulnerable. And Ajax just misses quality. Playing sober and simple is a quality Ajax doesn’t have.

Henk ten Cate played three strikers (Suarez, Huntelaar, Rommedahl), but that was way to optimistic. And most players were insecure with the ball, and all those wrong passes were a present for the guests from Croatia.

Youngster van der Wiel made a silly faul on a Dynamo striker and Modric scored from the spot. In the second half, Ajax knew to dominate and at last it was Rommedahl who crossed a decent ball in for Suarez, who seemed to score, but goalie Koch saved with a miraculous reflex.

Zagreb was the fittest team in extra time and went on to 0-3 lead. Huntelaar scored the 1-3 and the 2-3 but it was to no avail.

Ajax is not longer a top team in Europe. The sale of Sneijder may have resulted in 27 Million Euros in cash, but it may have cost the club much more.