The English premier league champions, Chelsea, came to Amsterdam on Friday, 23 July for a friendly match against Ajax in the magnificent Amsterdam Arena. It was thought that two of the top managers in European football; Martin Jol and Carlo Ancelotti would use the occasion to play almost full squads minus a few of their world cup stars. Ajax played almost a full team including World Cup hero Stekelenburg in goal. Chelsea only had three known players of note in the squad, Michael Essien, Mikel John Obi and Daniel Sturridge.

  The two managers, Jol of Ajax and Ancelotti of Chelsea

The Arena was only half full, just the lower ring, apart from the visitors section in the top ring which was home to around 350 Chelsea supporters. The Chelsea fans made all the noise in the stadium, constantly singing out a full repertoire of terrace songs. In contrast, Ajax fans were almost silent throughout. As it turned out, Ajax fans let their players do the talking for them.

Six minutes of the first half were played when Ajax took the lead after a cross from Christian Erikson was deflected in to the Chelsea goal by the unfortunate Jeffrey Bruma; 1-0. The game however did not spring to life from this first goal and was already looking though it was to be a typical friendly match between friends on the local playing field. There was no intensity, no drive or passion. As for Chelsea, they looked at times as they had also no clue.

  Chelsea give away a free kick

The game was already dying a death until the twenty forth minute when a quick Chelsea attack saw the ball come through to Daniel Sturridge who easily beat Stekelenburg, grabbing an equalizer; 1-1.

That score remained the same for all of two minutes. A disastrous goalkeeping howler from the Robert Green school of goalkeeping allowed Ajax to re take the lead. An Ajax goal kick came straight through to the Chelsea penalty box. Ross Turnbull slid across to prevent the ball going out for a goal kick. Unfortunately as he slid, his body went out of the area and he lost grip on the ball, presenting it to the on coming Siem de Jong who gratefully placed the ball in to the back of the empty net; 2-1.

The rest of the first half was dire, the game did not matter to the players and it showed. I felt sorry for those Chelsea fans who had forked out good money to watch this dreadful display. The bad new to follow the half time break was that the entire second half was even worse. You could have fallen asleep and not missed anything.

Only the humorous chants from the loyal Chelsea following made it bearable. Chelsea just stood and watched as Ajax played keep ball around them, it was all too easy for the Amsterdammers, who didn’t need to break sweat in a warm arena.

The stadium started to empty with twenty minutes to go and you could not blame them for leaving either. But those who did leave missed the final goal.

 Chelsea clearing the danger

In the eighty ninth minute Ajax moved up a gear and swept through the Chelsea defence and midfield with ease creating an opening for Hyun Jun Suk to tap in to the net; 3-1. Thirty seconds later and the final whistle blew and the ground was already basically empty.

  Keeping an eye on the ball

The journey from the Stadium back to Amsterdam central station was great fun. Chelsea and Ajax fans partied together on the train singing and dancing through the carriages. This continued inside the station and out in to the city. The Chelsea fans may have seen a poor performance from their team, but they were in Holland and were going to enjoy it no matter what, a real credit to the club and to England.

Text & Pictures by Neal McClimon
neal@thehagueonline.com

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