Young Ajax suffered a painful defeat against Almere City on Monday evening. The Amsterdam promises played a sluggish game and did not come up with a handful of finished chances. As the visitors from Almere were also sharp in the outbreaks, the game ended in 1-3.
Young Ajax started the match moderately. They had the upper hand, but were unable to create any chances. In the back things were also not in order, so the first real chance of the match was also right. Almere City broke out and the ball ended up at the feet of Jeffry Puriel through some fellow players in the box. He controlled the ball past Jay Gorter for the 0-1.
For a moment, the goal against John Heitinga seemed to provide some inspiration. There was a little more tempo in the attacks and some more eagerness splashed off the game. Sontje Hansen almost equalized within a few minutes after the 0-1, but after a good action in which he outplayed his opponent and dribbled into the sixteen, he shot just over.
Yet Almere remained more dangerous. Tijmen Wildeboer, among others, had a good shooting opportunity after Gibson Yah’s careless loss of the ball. However, he gently punted the ball into Gorter’s hands. Moments later, however, the striker was still allowed to sign for the 0-2. Lance Duijvestijn came through dangerously over the left and shot eye to eye with Gorter towards the far corner. The goalkeeper only got a small hand against it, allowing Wildeboer to double the Almere lead at the far post.
The standings could not be called undeserved at the moment that the 0-2 was far from unexpected. Almere City played with full dedication and thus presented the best football it had. Young Ajax, on the other hand, only seemed half awake and there was little to indicate that the 1-2 was closer. He was, however, because from a successful attack that was rare for Jong Ajax, the ball came at the feet of Naci Ünüvar via a low cross by Youri Baas, who was able to tap him in from close range.
With a 1-2 halftime score, Young Ajax seemed determined in the second half to equalize as quickly as possible. That should have worked through Hansen, who received Ünüvar’s ball in front of a goal without a keeper, after an almost perfect attack by Jong Ajax. However, Hansen’s attempt was blocked and half a minute later Puriel was even allowed to sign for the 1-3 from an outbreak of Almere City.
It would immediately mean the end of the attacking ambitions of Young Ajax. The team fell back to the too low tempo of the ball before halftime and when there was a hurry, the attack failed due to carelessness. The Amsterdam promises didn’t get much further than a few failed crosses.
Almere City no longer needed in the meantime and Alex Pastoor’s team limited itself mainly to irritating, disrupting and gambling on a switch. Still, among all the misery, there was still a bright spot for those who have a warm heart for Ajax. Gabriel Misehouy was allowed to make his debut in professional football ten minutes before the end. The talent did not play very strikingly, but that could hardly be blamed on him in this match.
Shortly before time, substitute Jayden Banel had another great chance when he was put one on one with Nordin Bakker with a long ball. However, the attacker just couldn’t reach the ball well, so he couldn’t get it past the out keeper. Young Ajax did not come any closer to a goal and so the game ended in a 1-3 defeat.
Line-up Young Ajax:
Gorter; Van Gelderen, Yah (Martha 46′), Musampa (Vos 69′), Baas (Salah-Eddine 88′); Llansana, Hlynsson (Misehouy 79′), Warmerdam; Hansen (Banel 88′), Rasmussen, Unuvar.
Substitutions Young Ajax:
Raatsie, Van der Sloot, Salah-Eddine, Martha, Campagne, Aertssen, Vos, Misehouy, Banel.
Almere City line-up:
Baker; Van Vlerken, Leeuwin, Jacobs, Poll (Helstrup 78′); Duijvestijn, Post (Van Leeuwen 62′), Receveur; Puriel (Alhaft 74), Wildeboer (Pouwels 62′), Van Hoeven (Esajas 62′)
Substitutions Almere City:
Alhaft, Arweiler, Bouyaghlafen, Esajas, Helstrup, Hoogeneboom, Keller, Pouwels, Resink, Zimmerman, Van Leeuwen
Goals:
0-1 Jeffery Puriel (11′)
0-2 Tijmen Wildeboer (28′)
1-2 Naci Ünüvar (36′)
1-3 Jeffery Puriel (55′)
Particularities:
– Do you expect Young Ajax to beat Almere City at home? Bet and receive 1.75 times your stake when the team of trainer John Heitinga wins!
