Feyenoord and Ajax draw in entertaining classic

Sunday 21 September 2008

In advance it was expected that Ajax would have an easy afternoon against a much depleted Feyenoord, but the Rotterdammers showed a lot of spirit and twice came back from being a goal down in a very entertaining game: 2-2.

Although there was much debate whether the second equalizer from a penalty was indeed a penalty (in our opinion it wasn't) Feyenoord didn't deserve to lose and thus a draw was justified.

Without Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Denny Landzaat, Jonathan De Guzman, Karim El Ahmadi and Ron Vlaar Feyenoord had to man their midfield with teenagers, and in that lineup Feyenoord would seem to not stand a chance against the more experienced opponents from Amsterdam.

But Georginio Wijnaldum (17), Leroy Fer (18) and Luigi Bruins (19) rose to the occasion of playing the arch rivals and their spirit gave Feyenoord the better start to the 52nd edition of Feyenoord-Ajax.

The match would be overshadowed by poor refereeing (9 yellow cards in an all together fair game) of which the stadium saw the first example after only three minutes.

Diego Biseswar broke through on the left and was brought down by Gregory van der Wiel inside the box, but instead of awarding the foul with a penalty for Feyenoord, referee Braamhaar gave Biseswar a yellow card for presumed diving.

The TV-replay showed just how wrong he was, as it did on several other occasions throughout the game.

Oddly Luis Suarez came away with a real dive in the second half without a yellow card.

Later in the second half Feyenoord again claimed a penalty when Roy Makaay was held by Tomas Vermaelen.

Again the referee would not know of it and again TV-footage showed he was wrong.

After the referee had broke Feyenoord's early offensive with some very bad decisions Ajax took over the initiative and created some decent chances.

But they needed poor clearing of the experienced defender Tim de Cler to take the lead.

In the 39th minute De Cler seemed able to easily clear a wild cross from the left, but he misjudged the bounce of the ball that then fell to Luis Suarez.

The Uruguayan striker had all the time to pick out a team mate in the box and in the end chose Jeffrey Sarpong to put the ball in the back in the net: 0-1.

Feyenoord seemed much affected by the goal and were struggling to not concede more before the break.

During the break Feyenoord had tanked some new spirit as they came out in the second much the same as they had done in the first half.

Roy Makaay could have equalized in the 50th minute but his point blank shot went inches over the cross bar.

A minute later Feyenoord did score.

As it happened so often it was Diego Biseswar who went round Gregory van der Wiel on the left to see his shot deflected high into the air by Ajax goal keeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

In a crowded goal area only Jon Dahl Tomasson judged the ball best and he headed home from some five meters out: 1-1.

Feyenoord then kept having the better of the play with Ajax looking very dangerous on the counter.

From one such counter it was Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who again gave Ajax the lead.

And again it was Tim de Cler not showing his best side against Luis Suarez, who first beat De Cler, then fought his way through against Kevin Hofland after which the ball fell to Huntelaar.

The Dutch topscorer humorless shot beat Timmer from close range: 1-2.

Feyenoord started playing the long ball without creating any real danger, but did equalize a second time in the 86th minute after being helped by the referee.

Urby Emmanuelson lightly tugged the arm of Michael Mols who went down instantly inside the box.

Braamhaar fell for it and the referees present was then easily converted by Jon-Dahl Tomasson: 2-2.

In the end the 2-2 draw was a just result, but Ajax will feel they were done hard by the referees decision on the penalty.

Both teams now have 4 points from 3 games, 3 points behind leaders FC Groningen.

Arjan Plantinga