Chapter 24: 24
Ravier saw the ball make a beautiful arc and head straight for the goal. It was a free kick well shot. But he was already well placed, took a few steps to the left, jumped up, and with the tip of his fingers pushed the ball away.
"Its another miss. The skill of the free kick and the trajectory of the ball was simply magnificent. But the guard's rescue was equally magnificent ad in extremis."
When Ravier saw the result, he frowned slightly and decided to practice even more to increase his height. If the ball had even more force, just the tip of his fingers would not have been enough to deflect the ball. This free kick would have been a sure goal.
Seeing that they almost conceded another goal on this action, all members of the Ajax team improved their defensive awareness.
"Its the end of the first half and the score was still 0:0. Were it not for the two rescues from Ravier, we would not have this scoreless draw".
The two teams returned to the locker room for a short rest.
After reflection, Koeman still felt the defense needed to be strengthened
In the second half, the two teams switched sides and battled again.
However, with the shelling of Mitea and Sonck in front of the door, the danger in front of the Roda JC team continued to occur.
Roda JC fans were horrified.
Koeman is eagerly waiting for the team to score an early goal to complete the victory. As long as they can go over the score, Ajax will inevitably change their style of play to control the pace, and they'll be satisfied as long as they win even if it's by a single goal.
Finally he will have to wait a long time to see the first goal of the game.
Long unable to attack, Roda JC made a bad pass in the front zone in the 62nd minute of play. Ajax's team took the opportunity to launch a counterattack.
De Jong advanced along the left, but the attack started from the right. Sneijder did not deliberately pass the ball to him when responding to the pass received from midfield. Instead, he kicked the ball past Anastasiou.
Anastasiou immediately faced linebacker Vicelich.
What he didn't expect was that Anastasiou faked a fake shot. After a fake shot, he got out and passed Vicelich. When he broke through and then slammed the ball into the penalty area, another center-back, Mark, rushed at him.
So, he slowed down the pace and turned his head to take a look. After reading the game situation, he lowered his head and passed the ball in the middle of the penalty area to the left.
When Mitea entered the penalty area, he slowed down in advance and stopped the ball with his left foot to complete the adjustment, then swung his right leg and kicked in the goal.
The environment is relatively relaxed, he is very calm, he has prepared enough and he is full of confidence.
The ball flew straight to the top right corner of the goal like a cannonball.
Rujovic want to save the ball, but he football flew into the goal, Ajax team fans roared wildly for Mitea's goal.
When Koeman saw the ball enter the net, he let out a sigh he didn't even know he was holding back.
"Mitea! He scored again. Ajax team's fast counterattack penetrated Roda JC's line of defense. Mitea actively shifted its position and responded on the spot. After adjustment, he simply shoved the ball into the goal."
Roda JC continued to attack after kick-off, but the attack grew increasingly impatient.
After breaking through Ajax's right back line, he delivered frequent kicks and crosses.
The Ajax team always take counter-attacking opportunities to create threats.
At that moment, the players have let go of their condition, and the Ajax team is improving.
In the 71st minute of the match, Roda JC's continuous cross from the bottom finally paid off.
Iwan showed the killer qualities of the Eredivisie top striker. After taking off in front of goal, he shook his head and sent the ball into the dead corner of the goal with precision.
But the goal was repelled by a rather excellent Ravier.
The coach of the Roda JC team gritted his teeth and swore in a low voice.
On the side of the Roda JC team, the players on the pitch also seemed aware of the developing situation.
Because after missing a goal again, the fans of the R0da JC team did not show excessive disappointment. They may have understood that it is very difficult to score a goal that is too obvious in front of such a goalkeeper.
However, Ajax's team generals haven't let up completely.
They always maintain a serious and focused attitude to face the game.
With only 20 minutes left, the Roda JC players played more aggressively to try and score at least one goal.
But, it was not something easy to do. And with the intensity of the match, the exhaustion of their physical strength caused them to panic more and more when they met the counterattack of the Ajax team after they lost the ball on another bad pass.
In the 74th minute of the match, Roda JC made a pass and was again intercepted by Ajax who staged a quick counterattack starting in the backcourt.
Galásek was dribbling forward and running with the ball very quickly after receiving a pass from Escude in the middle of the circle.
On a pass from Galásek, Anastasiou kicked the ball forward and stumbled a bit at first, but before center-back Mark made an interception in front of him, he jumped up and opted to put the ball straight into space behind him.
Mitea cut inside against offside, and again formed a one-handed shot.
Rujovic the goalkeeper of Roda JC did not choose to attack which allowed Mitea to calm down a bit and in the penalty area to place a shot in the lower right corner of the goal with a push from his right foot.
Rujovic was helpless to save!
Ajax 2-0 Roda JC.
After Mites scored the goal, he turned around and pointed at Anastasiou with a smile.
Mitea's goal was like a punch in the hearts of Roda JC players and fans.
Standing on the sidelines, the coach was helpless. He weakly raised his arms to remind the players not to give up.
But how could the experienced man fail to see that the defense has collapsed.
Need to score goals, support in midfield.
The back line can only push forward to maintain contact with the midfield, so the space behind is too wide.
If this is not done, the midfielder and the defender will be disconnected, and the Ajax team will have more opportunities to counterattack.
Their stamina couldn't keep up. It was the negative impact also of missing two goals outright.
Roda JC tried his best to launch a counterattack, but their attack became increasingly sloppy, blind and chaotic. The anxiety in their mentality caused their technical performance to begin to decline. Then it was like a deluge. On two counters, the Ajax team had the opportunity to score two goals. One goal from Sneijder and another from Anastasiou.
The mentality of the Roda JC players has completely collapsed. The fouls at the last moment of the game were very gross. The referee was very considerate of them at the time.
When the game-ending whistle sounded, there was a resounding cheer in the stadium. The fans were delighted that the team could win the game after the last games they played.
It has been two days since the match against Roda JC was played. That day Ravier was in the limelight. The newspapers spoke a lot about this match and also about Ravier's exploit in the face of the penalty. They have not ceased to praise the team which, despite playing less, still managed to score several times without conceding a goal in turn.
Ravier was packing his simple luggage in the apartment, when the club's sporting director called him.
Weekly Power Status
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