PSV Takes Down Ajax

By: chris | January 30th, 2008

And in the process make a significant dent as they dig their way to a fourth straight Eredivisie title. Despite being lapped in quality scoring chances by the Amsterdammers, PSV did what champions have to do and executed the chances they do get better than the other guy. The 2-0 victory takes PSV 8 points clear at the top while Ajax settles in with 3 others between 40 & 41 points, still looking towards the top of the table.

The story leading up to the game was Kenneth Perez, who signed with PSV from Ajax this summer after a falling out with Hank Ten Cate. After Hank went to London, Kenny had a change of heart and decided he wanted to go back to Amsterdam, because the 06-07 was so splendid (he’d only spent one season there). PSV sent him back to Ajax, yadda yadda yadda, he played. And every stoppage in play, it seemed, was an intimate closeup of his mug. Wonderful.

However, after the game the transfer story du jour was that of opening goal scorer Balázs Dzsudzsák, the 21 year old left winger for Hungary, who signed for PSV at the beginning of the month and has now scored 3 goals in 5 games since the 12th. And guess who Ajax can blame for his presence in the squad? Kenny Perez. Balázs wasn’t supposed to arrive until the summer after signing in October, but once PSV lost Perez, they decided to call him in with immediate effect. And voila, that’s all PSV needed. (Otman Bakkal added a cushion with 17 minutes remaining, sinking the hopes of Ajax.)

To add insult to injury, iconic captain Edgar Davids was sent off in injury time after spending spells of the match being shadowed by the Footballing Grim Reaper who was looking for his career. I really respect Edgar, but man, you began to forget who he was half the time. This isn’t the mid-90s Ajax Edgar.

The fans were electric, and as much is to be expected from what has become the annual top of the table clash, especially in one of my favorite stadiums, Amsterdam ArenaA (no, losing at home didn’t help matters for Ajax, either). Personal highlights were aplenty. Danko Lazovic was playing well before getting taken down and popping up injured immediately, stumbling around with a limp. He motioned to the sidelines 3-4 times over the course of 10 minutes but the bench either missed it or chose to ignore him before finally caving and subbing him off.

Then there was Klaas Jan Huntelaar, who is quite clearly the main option in the Ajax attack. It was impossible to count the number of times crosses were fired in his direction from the flanks. One of the few times they didn’t, when Kennedy Bakircioglu* fired in what turned out to be a pretty decent chance, KJH fired his arms in the air and yelled in his direction. We’ll chalk it up to the frustration of being down 2-0 and watching your title chances race off with the other man.

* - Kennedy gets the award for Footballer Whose Hair Makes Him Look At Least Seven Times Uglier Than He Really Is. Clearly in denial. (Shave it off, bro, just shave it off.)

And if you don’t know already, remember this name: Luis Suarez. This kid is truly going to take Europe by storm. Phenomenal, phenomenal talent.

So PSV marches on, and the title race looks to get just a little bit tougher in the Eredivisie.

Goals:

Ajax - PSV, 0-1
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Ajax - PSV, 0-2
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