If you were to guess at the first team to go through an entire Serie A season unbeaten, a few obvious names leap out. The Milan clubs, Juventus, maybe Roma or Lazio. But in the 1978-9 season, in a long, difficult title fight against Milan, it was a small regional side from Umbria, Perugia, who achieved the feat. And yet, more remarkably still, they somehow still failed to win the Scudetto.
Continue reading “The Heartbreaking Story of the First Italian Invincibles”
There was heavy rain in Mexico City on 29th June 1969, as the national teams of El Salvador and Honduras lined up against each other in the final qualifying playoff for qualification to the 1970 World Cup. It was the third of three games, a match forced by Honduras’ victory in the first leg, and El Salvador’s in the second, and held in a neutral venue. The first half was a relatively calm affair, considering the violence that had taken place in the previous two games, and the sides played out a 2-2 draw, forcing extra time. With 101 minutes on the clock, Mauricio Rodriguez scored what would ultimately be the winner for El Salvador, and the players celebrated they qualification. By the time the teams had left the pitch, their countries were at war.
Continue reading “The Football War”
Most major leagues have huge rivalries between teams from different cities, that in many ways define football in that country. In England, it is Manchester United v Liverpool. Italy has the Derby d’Italia which pits record champions Juventus with Milan rivals Inter. And the most famous of them all, Real Madrid and Barclona, whose tie has become a byword for heated rivalry. So with the marketing success of El Clasico, it’s not that surprising that other countries have followed suit. In France, they have Le Classique, between PSG and Marseille. The Netherlands has De Klassieker, the fiery affair between Ajax and Feyenoord (earlier this season, quite literally). And in Germany, there is Der Klassiker, the much hyped but often underwhelming meeting between Bayern and Dortmund. Unlike the other ‘classics’, which have swung between one side’s dominance and the other’s, or even been a close fought affair in almost all cases, Der Klassiker underwhelms because, however good Dortmund have been in the season to that point, however close they are to success, they almost never turn up. The same was true on Saturday.
Bayern beat other German sides. Obviously. They have the biggest budget, the most prestigious history, the biggest membership of any sports side in the world, and a colossal global fanbase. It’s not surprising that even their closest rivals can’t compete. But this is where the moniker fails. In Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona can beat each other, even if one is having a terrible period. The Clasico is a true rivalry, born out of civil war and dictatorship, where both clubs are of similar size, and neither gives an inch even with inferior players. Barcelona won the title last year, despite universal mocking over their need for ‘financial levers’. Real Madrid won the title even against arguably the best club side ever put together. Der Klassiker simply doesn’t offer the same excitement.
Like their rivals, they went into the game on Saturday unbeaten. Like their rivals, they were looking up the table at Bayer Leverkusen. They had home advantage. And yet, when Harry Kane completed his hat trick (his third in the Bundesliga already; Thomas Muller says he needs a new hotel room to keep the match balls) the game had already been over for a while. Really, the game was finish in the first ten minutes, when Bayern raced out of the blocks and gave themselves a 2-0 lead. Aside from a chance at the end of the first half, Dortmund were just never really in the game.
In fact, Dortmund haven’t been able to beat their Bavarian rivals for over four years, when they won the German Supercup. Before that, they were a little more competitive, winning six of the previous twenty meetings between the sides. Which doesn’t scream ‘close rivalry’ (Bayern won 13 of those meetings, with a single draw). The name first seems to have been applied while Jurgen Klopp was at the Westfalenstadion, a period of relative Dortmund dominance, but even he couldn’t give them a winning record. He took charge of 22 Klassiker, winning 9, and losing 10, including the most important game of all, the Champions League final.
The match has, overall, been played 134 times. Bayern have won more than half of those games. Dortmund have won fewer than a quarter of them. That they have been Bayern’s closest rivals for most of the last decade is a good indicator of just why the Bavarians have won eleven league titles in a row. The first three of those titles began while Klopp was in the Dortmund dugout. They won five more titles, out of eight, in a period of relative struggle for Bayern, between 2002 and 2011, the gap between Dortmund’s last title before Klopp, and their first under him.
There has never been a consistent period where Dortmund have truly been rivals to Bayern. They didn’t even win their first Bundesliga title until 1995 (though they had three German titles before the 1963 formation of the league). Until the nineties, Bayern had other rivals – Gladbach in the seventies, Hamburg in the eighties – which ironically is the only extended period where their win rate over Dortmund drops below 50%.
This isn’t necessarily criticism of BVB. They have been the most consistent also-rans of the last 15 years, and with a piece of the Clasico pie to be had, they were the obvious choice at the time to be put against Bayern. But they aren’t true rivals. It is a weakness of German football that, for all the excitement and an ownership structure that is envied by fans in the UK, Bayern have no true rivals for success. Which, as everybody has seen since the heart of Klopp’s Dortmund was ripped out – Hummels, Gotze, Lewandowski all making the trip to Bavaria when Dortmund looked like real challengers – simply becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Joshua Kimmich was snaffled from RB Leipzig before they could become a threat, Marcel Sabitzer (now of Dortmund) after they had. Rafael Guerreiro moved from Dortmund in the summer. Bayern have the money and prestige to weaken their rivals while strengthening themselves. And when there are no more worlds to conquer, they take England’s captain and Napoli’s defensive rock. How could anyone else compete?
Sometimes, there just isn’t a classic rivalry to market.
When the half-time whistle blew at the Philips Stadion, the suffering Ajax supporters must have been in a positive mood. The worst start in their history saw them in the relegation zone, violence had seen the postponement of the De Klassieker against Feyenoord with the Amsterdam side 3-0 down, and €150m in player sales seemed not to have been reinvested particularly vigorously. But PSV – sporting a 100% record in the Eredivisie – looked vulnerable, and goals from Branco van den Boomen and Brian Brobbey either side of a Hirving Lozano leveller saw them lead. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, or so they thought. As it happened, that light was just another oncoming train.
The result, given Ajax’s performances this season, was not surprising, and the manner of the collapse has become all too familiar to fans. Hirving Lozano put the seal on a 5-2 victory by completing his hat trick, but in reality the game was over ten minutes into the second half. PSV, buoyed by the words of Peter Bosz, ran riot over an Ajax side under the interim leadership of Hedwiges Maduro following the midweek sacking of Maurice Steijn. Steijn’s appointment, if perhaps not his ability, became emblematic of the problems at the Johan Cruyff Arena. For a club famed for its long term planning, there has simply been no strategy.
When Eric ten Hag left for Manchester United, it was hard. Add to that the dismissal of Director of Football Marc Overmars for inappropriate behaviour, and a soaring wage bill, and it became difficult to compete with PSV and Feyenoord at the summit. The summer of 2022 saw the departures of Noussair Mazraoui, Nicolas Tagliafico, Perr Schuurs, Ryan Gravenberch, Sebastien Haller, Lisandro Martinez, Antony and others for more than €200m. Their replacements – with a €100m profit – have been underwhelming. Alfred Schreuder started last season with 9 wins in his opening 11 games, but with form falling off and a disappointing Champions League run, he was dismissed before the end of the January transfer window. John Heitinga was given the reins temporarily but could only steer the side to a disappointing third placed finish before he left to join David Moyes coaching staff at West Ham.
With the loss of Champions League income, and continuing disarray at the top of the club, this summer has seen more high profile departures. Added to the problems this time was the resignation of Chief Executive Edwin van der Sar for health reasons. New Director of Football Sven Mislintat had, to all intents and purposes, a free hand to play in preparation for the new season. It’s fair to say that he has totally bungled it.
The appointment of Steijn was a bold one. Steijn led Sparta Rotterdam to a surprise sixth-placed finish last season, having started his managerial career at ADO Den Haag and then spending five years at VVV-Venlo. Brief spells in the United Arab Emirates and then at NAC Breda followed, before he overachieved at Rotterdam’s second club. But he didn’t have the profile usually expected of an outsider at Ajax, and didn’t have a previous connection with the club.
The manager was given a new squad, but didn’t help himself. Mohammed Kudus, Jurrien Timber, Edson Alvarez, and Mohamed Daramy and Calvin Bassey made up the bulk of €150m of players sales. Their replacements have once again been underwhelming. Borna Sosa hasn’t performed, and Sivert Mannsverk looks promising, but has only played one game. Steijn has admitted that the only player he was happy to sign was Josip Sutalo. Things came to a head when Dusan Tadic, on whose shoulders so many hopes were piled, cancelled his contract. He had fallen out with his coach, he was skipping training, and he was annoyed at the lowered quality of his teammates. He had been expected to take a coaching role at the end of his playing career, and his departure upset the other experienced players in the team.
Steijn didn’t help himself either. Expressing confidence in only one new signing isn’t the best start. Taking a cosmopolitan squad and forcing them to speak Dutch around the training ground might appease some nationalistic elements of the fanbase, but did nothing the help team cohesion; under ten Hag, English had been the main language at De Toekomst. Unsurprisingly, the team has struggled to come together.
With neither centre back especially comfortable on the ball, the defence has fallen apart. The full backs are forced to create from the back, but being at Ajax they are almost always forced into a difficult move into midfield – passing down the line is a particularly grievous sin at the Johan Cruyff Arena – meaning that other teams have found it too easy to press the Ajax defence. When the ball has made its way forward, the offensive players have found themselves isolated and ineffective. Steven Bergwijn has scored just one goal since the opening weekend, and Brian Brobbey has struggled. Chuba Akpom joined in the summer from Middlesbrough, where he scored 29 league goals last season, but rather than play him through the middle as Michael Carrick had, Steijn forced him out wide, where he hasn’t been involved in a single goal.
Defensively, the lack of cohesion has been extremely costly. Ajax’s own press has simply not really materialised, and teams have been able to play through them far too easily. Similarly, crosses have just not been dealt with. They have conceded more than two goals per game so far, the second most in the division, they are the worst in the league at winning possession, and cannot intercept the ball. Individual quality has seen them score some goals, but at the back, they have been woeful.
Steijn was finally dismissed following a 4-3 defeat to Utrecht, a game in which Ajax had fallen two goals behind before fighting back to lead, only to throw it away again. The game was marred by fan disorder, a term which doesn’t come close to describing the riots that caused De Klassieker to be abandoned earlier in the season. It would be an understatement to say that everyone is unhappy.
Marco van Basten has claimed his former side is unrecognisable, and should now be called FC Amsterdam, while Rafael van der Vaart agreed that they were ‘no longer Ajax’. Wesley Sneijder has argued that it didn’t matter which manager took over from Steijn, as the ‘players just aren’t good enough.’
The latest managerial appointment was not without its own drama; quite literally. John van’t Schip was given the role after the capitulation against PSV at the weekend, but having only lost his wife to cancer last month, the club first approached former Chelsea assistant Henk ten Cate. Ten Cate reportedly turned them down to appear in Dutch detective series Sleepers. Fortunately for everyone in Amsterdam, van’t Schip decided to take the job after all.
Ajax have the youngest side in the Eredivisie and have endured the toughest start in their history. But they will hope to turn things around in the coming weeks. It’s not much of an excuse, but their opening ten games have been tough, with two easier fixtures coming up to put some points and, more importantly, some confidence on the board. They have games in hand on those around them, the first of them a home game against Volendam, who sit two places ahead of them in the table. Win that, and they can maybe start to move on from this crisis. Lose it, and the crisis will turn into a panic.
At the beginning of the 1914-15 season, Celtic, fresh from winning their eleventh Scottish title, travelled to Edinburgh to take on Hearts. The home side had won two titles in the 1890s before being eclipsed by the Glasgow giants, and had been crowned World Champions in 1902 by beating Tottenham Hotspur, but hadn’t been able to win the league for nearly two decades. There was a sense of optimism, then, when scored in the 27th minute, Harry Wattie netting for the hosts. Hearts’ goalkeeper James Boyd ensured that the Celtic onslaught came to nothing, before deep into the second half Tom Gracie doubled the lead and put the game to bed. That same day, King George V declared war on Germany, and within four years all three – Wattie, Boyd and Gracie – were dead.
Continue reading “‘Champions in Maroon and Khaki’”