Much discussion after Ajax-AZ

Monday 27 April 2009

Joey Didulica was knocked out in front of his own goal, Luiz Suarez was eating his jersey from sheer anger while coach Marco van Basten started a fierce discussion with the fourth referee on the touchline.

And then an ambulance racing into the stadium.

As dull as the first half of Ajax-AZ had been, the second act was full of events.

When the dust had settles after 14 minutes of added time the scoreboard showed a final score of 1-1.

A score reached by ten players of AZ, who had needed a lot of good fortune and were hanging by their fingernails during the final minutes of the game.

Shortly after the game reports from hospital indicated that Didulica's injuries were not too serious.

Scans of his skull and neck revealed no damage.

The sad departure of the Australian goal keeper was reason enough for AZ's team manager Piet Hartland to call Suarez some rather unfriendly names, as it was the umpteenth time that Suarez was the black sheep at the end of a laden match.

Not everybody agreed about the challenge of the Uruguayan on Didulica and whether he hit the goal keeper on purpose after his missed penalty, but all were unanimous about how kicked the penalty (Panenka still, with a chip down the middle): you don't do that when you're 1-0 down in a game where Champions League qualification is at stake.

Coach Marco van Basten said: "Luis is unpredictable. He h&as been praised for that many times, but today we are less happy with him."

Suarez himself was devastated and not available for comment after the game.

Referee Pieter Vink was the third person much talked about after the game.

It would have never been such an explosive game if he had not given Stijn Schaars a red card shortly after the interval for his tackle on Vurnon Anita.

The booking was the first of a series of mistakes by the man in black.

The most striking error was Ajax' first penalty, as it was clear to see that instead of being pushed Suarez was the one pushing two defenders away.

And even the second penalty from which Suarez eventually equalized was given lightly, as it was impossible for AZ defender Klavan to make his arm disappear.

When Sulejmani was sandwiched a bit later and a penalty should have been rewarded Vink thought nothing of it.

It was a miracle that the game only produced two goals, as the 50,000 in the stands would have felt they were watching a tennis game.

Events came at intervals of a few minutes and where AZ had been unable to break through the AZ-defense before Schaars' dismissal, afterwards it was raining opportunities.

Aissati, Vermaelen and Cvitanich all hit the aluminum and on the other side Jermain Lens missed a massive chance at 1-2 just minutes from the end.

Lens had been the lone front soldier after the break.

Van Gaal had put him there with the purpose to run into the spaces behind the Ajax defense and in the first half that had worked wonderfully as the young striker opened the score from a long Schaars pass.

Ajax' equalizer was justified in the end, but it didn't do the Amsterdammers much good in the fight for the second spot, as for the second week in a row they failed to benefit from Twente's point loss a day earlier.

With two games remaining the difference is still 1 point and Twente by now might be feeling Ajax will never catch them, no matter what happens.

Fixtures - Table