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Super Wednesday

January 31st, 2008 | By: Jan | 12 Comments »

As JC said: every disadvantage has it’s advantage…

Being in Holland allowed me to watch the two super-fixtures Ajax - PSV and Feyenoord - AZ. It’s been a while since I’ve seen these four teams play for 90 minutes so here’s my report.

Ajax - PSV 0-2

Ajax needed a win, playing at home against the leader of the pack. But it wasn’t the Ajax as we know them. They almost played kick and rush football, long passes to the strikers and trying to outrun the opponent. I don’t think they wanted to play like this, but the typical Ajax game (passing, positioning, creative build-up) didn’t work. PSV owned midfield and played more maturely then Ajax. In particular Edgar Davids had a bad day. He is still not 100% fit and it showed. He was late in the duels, his passing wasn’t good enough and his speed has worsened. Kenneth Perez, the creative artist, was almost invisible against his former team and Huntelaar, well…he is a great goal-scorer but not much more than that. If the team around him fails, he won’t step up to the plate to change things around. I’m sorry, I can’t compare him to Ruud van N. yet and cannot see why Juve and ManU are after him. Scoring in the Eredivisie is one thing, in the Serie A it’s a different story.
Anyway, PSV was much more alert, more aggressive and played a fore-checking type of game that made Ajax really nervous.

PSV scored the 1-0 in the first half, a good goal by new signing Dzsudzsak, a Hungarian talent. Active, dynamic, smart and a good shot. In the second half PSV’s only other chance was converted. Sub Koevermans controlled the ball in the box and passed it to the young Bakkal who shot the ball high and hard into the net.

Ajax got two major opportunities as well, Suarez, but twice he missed. And that’s the story of the match. Sloppy football from both sides, not a lot of action in the box. Two opps for both teams. PSV scored both, Ajax missed both. End of story.
Or is it? In the last phase of the game, a frustrated Edgar Davids went for the legs of a PSV player. He deserved red but didn’t get anything. So, Davids did it again, in the dying seconds of the game, he slided with two outstretched legs. He missed the player, but still, the ref couldn’t let that one go. Red card for an angry and disappointed Davids.

On a positive note, John Heijtinga played a great game, with beautiful long passes going left to right…

PSV is 8 points away now and Ajax will have to battle Feyenoord this sunday, so who knows…

Feyenoord - AZ 2-2

Feyenoord seems to have trouble beginning their matches in their own De Kuip stadium. Against FC Twente and FC Groningen the hosts started slow and uninspired, only to come back in the second half with a vengeance. Against Louis van Gaal’s AZ, same thing. AZ dominated the game with their trade-mark game-play. It resulted in chances and even in the 0-1. Pelle scored from up close but backheeled the ball against his own hand, before it bounced in the goal. The ref didn’t see that, though, so AZ led.
The anger and frustration at Feyenoord resulted in a wonderful “English” type of match. A blunder by Waterman brought Feyenoord back in the game in the second half. His kick ended at Gio, who made the 1-2 play with Makaay to find himself eye to eye with the AZ goalie: 1-1. The fans really started to back Feyenoord up, but as sometimes happens in these cases, it was again AZ to come up in front. A nicely played combination play resulted in the 1-2 by El Hamdaoui. Still, Feyenoord played with passion and Makaay - invisible, Landzaat - useful, and De Guzman - brilliant missed their chances. Another mistake by Waterman helped Feyenoord equalize. A freekick by Hofs was easily cleared by Waterman, but he dropped the ball right in front of defender Bahia who easily scored the 2-2.

Feyenoord had numerous chances in the dying minutes of the game, but De Guzman (crossbar), Makaay and sub Slory all missed.

AZ isn’t really helped by this draw (still at number 10 in the standings!) and Feyenoord can - for now - kiss the title goodbye.

On a positive note: Canadian Jonathan De Guzman receives his Dutch passport today :-)!

Tags: Ajax, de Guzman, Edgar Davids, Group C, Huntelaar, Oranje, The Netherlands

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Comments

By tim | January 31st, 2008 at 3:47 am

Wait, so De Guzman is gonna play for Holland now? That’s his decision?

If so, welcome aboard.

By Jan | January 31st, 2008 at 7:38 am

No, it doesn’t mean that yet. He can still decide to play for Canada. It’s just that with the regulations in Europe, De Guzman can be seen as a Dutch player, that’s all.

Posted from Netherlands

By ClockworkOrange | January 31st, 2008 at 8:06 am

As a Dutch-Canadian I’m obviously quite torn on the De Guzman issue. Because the Netherlands already has such an abundance of midfield talent, I think I want to see him go to Canada. Especially because Canada has never really had a superstar player he might be just what we need to spark more interest in the beautiful game.

Posted from United Kingdom

By Darth | January 31st, 2008 at 9:37 am

Ajax is in horrible shape. I think that this is a reflection of the managment personally. How is it possible to let Perez go to PSV, and 6 months later take him back? How is it possible to release Rasmus Lindgren for free at Groningen, and then buy him back for 2,5 millions?

Ajax has made itself a reputation for having an excellent scouting department. Now it doesen’t show. Dzsudzsak is in the “hot prospects” list from 2 years already.

Yes, I am a fan of Ajax, and I am upset because of their performances, but I’m not going to ask for hangings.

About Huntelaar, I see him as the kind of striker that has a high ratio of “goals scored/Goal opportunities” , without creating his own chances. Not at the level of Pippo, of course, but Klaas could make himself a good career at a team that can create chances. I am just afraid that he may not step at the next level, and looking at Ajax, I think that it may be best for him to leave.

By the way, in our “wonderful” press they say that Ajax want to get rid of Ogararu, switching him with Silva and excluding Oga from the first team. I think it’s a load of bollocks, and I want to hear the real story ,since you all know better than me what happens in there.

PSV will take the title again, with an advantage of maximum 5 points. And PSV plays worse that last season, bad sign for Eredivisie

By Sam | January 31st, 2008 at 11:19 am

If you steal De Guzman from us, we’ll be very, very pissed.

Posted from Canada

By Lerkot | January 31st, 2008 at 11:23 am

We dont need another Sneijder. We need another midfield leader like Cocu, Davids or even Bosvelt was.

By goose | January 31st, 2008 at 2:26 pm

deGuzman is no oranje material… he could be capped a couple of times but i dont think hell ever be a regular…. how is the canadian team anyway?? are they any good??

btw; (sorry in dutch); JAN, als je nog in Nederland bent moet je absoluut even het boek; 1974, wij waren de besten, van Auke Kok kopen…brilliant boek!

Posted from Netherlands

By Brad | January 31st, 2008 at 2:30 pm

It would be a big shame if de guzman decides to play for the Netherlands. Ending up on a team where he might be low on the depth chart over a side where he would quite possibly be one of the key players…although admittedly I’m not real familiar with him and his level of play, just as a Canadian I want to see him play for us.

Posted from Canada

By Kyle | January 31st, 2008 at 4:35 pm

@ goose,

The Canadian team has a very bright future right now, though we do desperately need De Guzman on our squad to keep it bright. The problem is, and it’s really the only reason he hasn’t commited to Canada is because the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) is a complete mess. They care more about grass roots soccer than the actual national team and fight between provinces in Canada to get funding for that level. If they spent some actual time on the national team, gave them the resources, hired the proper coaches and actually made it a more legitimate program, we wouldn’t be having this De Guzman debate. I hope he plays for Canada, I think he has more to gain playing for them, then he ever will get playing for Holland, but than again i could be wrong, look at Hargraves for England.

Posted from Canada

By tjeerd | January 31st, 2008 at 10:24 pm

The CSA a mess, that is the truth. Nevertheless, de Guzman would dictate his playing time for Canada, while for Oranje he would be a bench warmer hoping to get a few minutes of playing time. Come home to Canada Jonathon! We need you to beat those Americans who stole that game from us at the Gold Cup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8Kt7eNSwYA

As a proud Canadian I cannot resist tucking in a Gretzky pas to Lemieux goal vs. the Communist Soviets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAg-wwlDwTM

By goose | February 1st, 2008 at 1:15 pm

@Tjeerd; just watched those tubes; what was wrong with the ref?? first ‘the booking, wich had to be a red card but the offside call was outrageous!! i would have trown out my tv is that would happen to Oranje!! (btw; the team didnt llok that bad i have to say…lot of quick players)

Posted from Netherlands

By tjeerd | February 1st, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Goose: It was unbelievable, if it happened in a Hockey game, say the Olympics, we would have riots in the streets. The reality is that soccer is under the “who cares” category for most of our countryman. There are too few of us who care about our national soccer team.
If we had Calgary’s Owen Hargraves (he claimed his grandfathers citizenship, England) and Jonathon, maybe we would have a shot at World Cup qualification.

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