Revenge Cambuur
SC Cambuur took revenge with the strong performance before the breakdown earlier this season in Amsterdam, when it was 9-0 for Ajax. This time the Frisians gave great resistance and put Ajax under good pressure with their energetic game. The Amsterdammers had to pull out all the stops to avoid damage.
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Nevertheless, initially nothing seemed to be wrong for Ajax. The team of trainer Erik ten Hag got off to a perfect start in Friesland. Dusan gave Tadic the lead after just three minutes. Ajax had plenty of opportunities to increase the score. Pieter Bos, the replacement for the injured goalkeeper Sonny Stevens, managed to hold out a lot. Ajax asked in vain for a penalty kick when Perr Schuurs was hit in the face by Mitchel Paulissen’s raised leg in the sixteen-meter area. Only five minutes before half-time, Sébastien Haller doubled the lead, the nineteenth Eredivisie goal of this season for the top scorer (0-2).
Dusan Tadic gave his team the lead very early on.
Ⓒ ANP/HH
With a view to the two upcoming squatters, Ten Hag was able to note some windfalls in terms of personnel. Noussair Mazraoui was fit again to play from kick-off, while Jurriën Timber and Brian Brobbey made playing minutes as substitutes after their injuries. For Brobbey, those were his first minutes since he retired against PSV at the end of January, after he had first scored the opening goal – injured and well.
Before the match in Leeuwarden, the absence of Henk de Jong, who called in sick for the rest of the season, was mentioned in word and gesture, because the return to the bench was too difficult for him. The Cambuur trainer was encouraged with a banner and chants. Acting trainer Pascal Boseloos also received an Ajax shirt from Ajax coach Erik ten Hag with the text ‘Strong Henk’ and all the signatures of the players.
Ajax played in Leeuwarden without the sick Edson Alvarez and suspended Lisandro Martinez, while Devyne Rensch started on the bench compared to the match against RKC. Except for Mazraoui, this time there were basic places for Nico Tagliafico and Davy Klaassen.
Strong first half
After the good first half there seemed to be no problem for Ajax, but the Ten Hag team did not come out of the dressing room sharply and saw Cambuur promptly score the connecting goal. Little Issa Kallon was overlooked by the Ajax defense and was able to tap in from close range (1-2) after a corner. The energetic SC Cambuur caused Ajax many problems and goalkeeper André Onana proved his worth with a cat-like reflex on a header from Paulissen.
Due to the lesser innings against Go Ahead Eagles (2-1 defeat) and RKC Waalwijk (narrow 3-2 victory), Ajax has lost the untouchable status it had lost earlier this season in recent weeks. SC Cambuur smelled blood and put the suddenly so vulnerable Ajax defense under full pressure. A wrong pass in the middle by Nicolas Tagliafico led to Cambuur’s equalizing goal. Substitute Rensch slipped away so that he was unable to save and substitute Patrick Joosten detonated the Cambuur stadium.
Patrick Joosten makes the 2-2 after a dramatic defense from Tagliafico.
Ⓒ ANP/HH
It was an up and down game after that, with both teams playing full for the win. After goalkeeper Bos had made a clever save on a header from substitute Brobbey, he had no chance on Gravenberch’s shot, as a result of which Ajax has again increased the margin with number two PSV to five points. The pursuer will visit FC Utrecht on Sunday afternoon.