Entry of:04-11-99
EUROREVIEW
AJAX-HAPOEL HAIFA(ISR)
Ajax this week:
Disappointing, sad, hopeless, pittyfull. Not a word could describe the show that Ajax put on the field on wednesday November 4th. Ajax played so terribly bad that it was almost a punishment to watch this game. Soccermidget Hapoel Haifa gave Ajax more troubles than it could cope with.
And so the inevitable happened, Hapoel took the lead and did not give it away no more. It needed 2 penalties for that. One in the 24th minute when Chivu, the young Romanian defender totally unnecessary pulled the emergencybrake by holding on to a Israelian attacker and for the second time this week Chivu could leave with a red card. Hapoel nerved out on the deciding moment and hit the goalpost. Second time they got the penalty it was in the 60th minute after stupid and reckless playing by Grim, the man that irritated me a lot with his bad play this evening, it is hard to understand that this guy is seriously a keeper of a great club like Ajax. Rosso scored easily. After that the visitors of the game were tortured(and this is no exaggeration!) for another 30 minutes. No individual action no galleryplay nothing, just a terrible loss. It is a game to forget very quickly. But if Ajax keeps playing like this it does not matter who comes out in the draw tomorrow, they will loose in the next round for sure. Serious adjustments are needed!
Note for Ajax: 3
Other Dutch teams in European Cups:
Ajax and Feyenoord are the only 2 clubs left of the 6 clubs that started. First PSV it lost on wednesday in Valencia with 1-0 and that put an end to the theoretical 3rd place and a place in the UEFA-cup. PSV ended 4th and prooved that it has nothing to do in the Champions League. Willem II put a nice 0-0 draw on the board and became also last in their group, but since it is their debute,2 draws at such a high level is not a bad result. And then there is the endless luck of Feyenoord, who also had a theoretical chance to read the next phase of the Champions League and of course they had the undeserved luck coming their way. They won with 1-0 in Rotterdam from the unbeaten Rosenborg and in Portugal Boavista totally surprised Borussia Dortmund with 1-0 and so Dortmund was knocked out and Feyenoord did not loose any of their 6 matches but went throught with very poor play.
Ajax went through but Roda JC and Vitesse stranded in this 2nd round. Roda JC very clumsy stumbled of over the little club Vfl Wolfsburg.They went with a 0-0 aggregate to Germany and saw in the 86th minute to their surprise that Wolfsburg went through to the second round, a very shameful event that gave the Roda squad something to think about, not pleasant memories though. Vitesse had a tough task after loosing in Lens with 4-1 last week. 3 goals was the task to score at home but it did not come further than a 1-1 so Lens stealed the place in the third round UEFA away from Vitesse.
All clubs played poorly and the fact that 2 clubs went through is a twist of fate cause they all did not deserve it. Let's hope the European adventure for the 2 remaining clubs can get a better continuation. Especially Ajax of course
Note for the competition: 5
Moment of the week:
In the 45th minute Grim prooved his incapability with a very stupendous action. The keeper tumbled over totally to the wrong side when an Israelian attacker appeared! But that really prooves that this clown belongs in a slapstick movie not in the first team of Ajax.Shame!
Also very nice to see that much money did not help AC Milan at all, defeated and out of the European cup, I laugh in their faces.
Willem ter Haar
(Ashamed of the poor play of Ajax this week, very very ashamed)
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