09 May 2007: SC Heerenveen - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

The show must go on!

The first play-off game is an away game at SC Heerenveen. Kick-off 20:00 CET at Abe Lenstra Stadium. Heerenveen captain Petter Hansson will be suspended for this one. The Eredivisie top goalscorer and Player of the Year, Afonso Alvez, won't be.

Return leg at the ArenA: Sunday 13 May, 14:30 CET. The winners on aggregate will play the winners of AZ vs FC Twente for a slot in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

K.

[ZoefdeHaas]

Alves....agh

[Kowalczyk]

In the Eredivisie Play-Offs thread, our good mate Bluedaddy posted this:

heerenveen wont have hansson and prager for the first game, and yildirim will miss both

Which is great news. Especially Hansson will be sorely missed by Heerenveen. He's a giant and our strikers always have a rough time against him.

What to do with Alves though...? I guess we really need Stam for this one...

K.

[bluedaddy19]

What to do with Alves though...? I guess we really need Stam for this one...

K.

i guess whatever we did the last time coz he didnt score

[SwedishFan]

If we let this Nilsson guy score again I

[Van basten]

1 scoring chance in first half. fucking beautiful. keep it going in the same way boys. perez in and quick! for Babel De Mul or even Sneijder, who can easily get second yellow in second half

[dws]

1 scoring chance in first half. fucking beautiful. keep it going in the same way boys. perez in and quick! for Babel De Mul or even Sneijder, who can easily get second yellow in second half

And what a fucking chance .... de Mul scooping the ball over the bar from 6 yards.

[dws]

De Mul off ... Perez on.

[AjaxPDX]

Final score... 1-0 to the bad guys.

[dws]

Finished 1:0 Heerenveen. Ajax offered next to nothing in attack and was very suspect in defence. Awful.

[Van basten]

that cunt Nilsson did it again. for the second time in a row he scored only goal of the game and he even scored in the same bloody minute (18) like he did in Arena!

[Manneken Pis]

One of those games where every ball bounces badly for you.
Their goalie didn't have one save to make....not one.
Having said that, they could have had four or five goals easily.

We're very lucky still to be in with any kind of chance....

[Over Pasanens Head]

One of those games where every ball bounces badly for you.
Their goalie didn't have one save to make....not one.
Having said that, they could have had four or five goals easily.

We're very lucky still to be in with any kind of chance....

But we are in with a great chance to go through - one down from an away leg with the home leg still to come is a good position to be in. As Ko said on Sunday - we have looked all season at our best when chasing. If we get our noses in front then the wheels come off. So to be chasing a one goal deficit isnt worrying me or I doubt the players and management.

[Van basten]

One of those games where every ball bounces badly for you.
Their goalie didn't have one save to make....not one.
Having said that, they could have had four or five goals easily.

We're very lucky still to be in with any kind of chance....

But we are in with a great chance to go through - one down from an away leg with the home leg still to come is a good position to be in. As Ko said on Sunday - we have looked all season at our best when chasing. If we get our noses in front then the wheels come off. So to be chasing a one goal deficit isnt worrying me or I doubt the players and management.

Well, i'm very worried with this result. to lose 0-1 on away game is always bad result. it means that if they scores 1 in Arena, we have to score 3 and in last two games against them we scored zero. we'll have to attack and knowing that they have Alves on their counterattacks don't make this perspective very good for me. if i wouldn't an Ajax fan, i would put my money on Heerenveen after yeasterday

[Ayman]

Doesnt look like it will happen for Ajax this time....oh well...just have to wait and see where the finger will be pointed at....

[Kowalczyk]

Ajax had a chance and a half in this game: Tom De Mul's chance (the one dws also referred to) was a 100% sitter. All he had to do was tap it home from close range at the far post, but he lifted it over the bar. Amazing. The other chance was a header opportunity for KJH, on a cross from Sneijder. Perfect cross, but KJH didn't hit it right.

In the second half Ajax had one or two threatening moments, but that was about it.

Manneken Pis stated that Heerenveen could easily have scored four or five (which I think is a bit exaggerated, as Heerenveen didn't create that much), but fact is that Nilsson and Poulsen had face-to-face encounters with Stekelenburg in the second half (must be said: two superb saves).

I don't think it could have been 4-0 or 5-0, but 2-0 instead of 1-0 would not have been undeserved. Ajax really couldn't claim anything. They looked tired. Heerenveen were simply more up for it and this was the case for the full 90 minutes. So let's look at the upside: had Heerenveen been 100% efficient, we could have been dead. But we're still alive, so let's thank heaven for that and pull a bloody great performance out of our rear ends on Sunday.

K.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

I`M im a little worried for the return leg but i got this gut feeling that Heerenven are going to have to rue their missed chances. Ajax always has a bad time in friesland and we usually loose by a bigger margin.
Heerenven is a totaly diferent team when on the road....i think we will go through. Heerenven needed to score more goals, they had to beat us big but they just relaxed after the first goal, that crucial mistake is going to haunt them.

My only worry is that the team really seems tired and three days rest is not enough to recuperate...

pd: please no De Mul for the next game

[Kowalczyk]

Match report is up!

http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m06-07/ ... nveen.html

K.