15 april 2024, 22:00
Earlier this evening, SC Cambuur fought for one of the last straws to reach the Play-Offs at Sports Complex De Toekomst. It is clear that our yellow and blue team must make every effort to continue the season as desired after the very last regular competition match on May 10 against Helmond Sport and thus continue to play matches in our much-loved stadium at Cambuurplein. to extend.
After the last loss against ADO Den Haag on April 5, the Liwwadders had dropped to a seemingly unlikely twelfth place. But defeats by rivals FC Emmen and VVV-Venlo on the following Sunday meant that SC Cambuur found itself in tenth place, albeit on the basis of goal difference. And because FC Emmen and VVV-Venlo lost again in the last round, Henk de Jong’s team was still in tenth place until this evening. In short, it is all very close together. However, if Cambuur wants to continue to participate seriously in this rat race, the necessary points will have to be won towards the climax of the KKD season. So a win over Jong Ajax, the only promising team that SC Cambuur managed to win this season, was actually a necessity to keep the prospect of the Play-Offs alive. After all, with matches against Roda JC, FC Groningen and seasonal surprise FC Dordrecht, the Leeuwarders have an anything but easy program on paper. Our yellow and blue team did themselves a disservice by eventually losing 2-1 to the youngsters of Ajax, after a halftime score of 0-0. This makes qualifying for the Play-Offs an even more difficult task.
Fortunately, Henk de Jong and his technical staff had Remco Balk at the sports complex of the Amsterdam club. In the Leeuwarden camp, the not entirely fit Roberts Uldrikis started on the bench. Matthias Nartey was thus given a starting place again. With the promising teams there is often a big question mark in advance as to who will kick off. The Jong Ajax of head coach Dave Vos and assistant coach Yuri Rose, captain of our legendary champion team in the 2012/2013 season, performed tonight with a number of players who can easily compete at the highest level. After all, players such as Julian Rijkhoff, Kian Fitz-Jim, Carlos Forbs and Anton Gaaei have already made several appearances in the Amsterdam main squad.
The start of the game was extremely exciting, as within five minutes there were a large number of chances on both sides. On the home team’s side, the lightning-fast Forbs and Fitz-Jim came into scoring position, but both times Yanick van Osch intervened well. On the other hand, Cambuur had opportunities to take the lead early in the match through Fedde de Jong, Remco Balk and Matthias Nartey, but the finishing of our yellow and blue left a lot to be desired. While the rain was pouring down, the Amsterdam promises gradually took the initiative during the first half. After almost half an hour, Yoram Boerhout created some excitement in the match. However, his flaming long shot was nicely parried by Van Osch. Five minutes later, Cambuur got away again when Martha entered into a one-two with Rijkhoff, after which the left back’s shot went narrowly wide. Just before half-time, Milan Smit came close to scoring the opening goal, but his effort was well defended, meaning both teams returned to the dressing rooms goalless in soaking wet Amsterdam.
After the tea break, the Leeuwarders entered the field unchanged. At Jong Ajax, Kayden Wolff replaced Boerhout as right winger. The Amsterdam team quickly got an opportunity not to be missed. Substitute Wolff rushed alone to goalkeeper Van Osch, passed the ball to Rijkhoff, after which Forbs actually had to shoot the ball in after a scrimmage. But again Van Osch showed his value by stopping the ball. Then the yellow-blue were close again to the first goal of the evening. First, Balk’s shot was cleared off the line, after which Smit’s effort just missed the target. Halfway through the second act, substitute Uldrikis also had the 0-1 on his shoe, but his effort unfortunately went wide of the goal via his teammate Balk. While Cambuur started taking more and more risks to open the score, fifteen minutes before the end they scored at the other end. Forbs finally gave the ball the final push. Moments later, Rijkhoff dealt the final blow by beautifully scoring the 2-0. The final score came in Balk’s name, but his goal came too late to make the match exciting.
The northern derby against the revived FC Groningen is on the playing calendar on Saturday. At the unusual start time of 9 p.m., the Henk de Jong brigade will take on Dick Lukkien’s team in the Euroborg. After a mediocre start to this season, our eastern neighbors have risen to third place in the rankings thanks to a particularly good revival. Particularly impressive because the advance has started with a striking number of players from our own training. In particular, ‘own’ boys such as Romano Postma, Luciano Valente and Thom van Bergen ensure that the grumpiness from Groningen has been completely wiped away. Returning to the highest stage, whether or not via the Play-Offs, therefore no longer seems impossible. It is up to SC Cambuur to leave De Trots van het Noorden empty-handed, just like earlier this season.
Line-up Young Ajax: Charlie Setford, Anton Gaaei, Julian Brandes (63. Precious Ugwu), Tristan Gooijer, Ar’jany Martha, Silvano Vos (88. Nassef Chourak), Olaf Gorter (63. Rida Chahid), Kian Fitz-Jim, Yoram Boerhout ( 46. Kayden Wolff), Julian Rijkhoff (84. Dies Janse), Carlos Forbes
Line-up SC Cambuur: Yanick van Osch, Sekou Sylla (77. Thomas Pol), Léon Bergsma (84. Jeremy van Mullem), Marco Tol, Floris Smand, Sturla Ottesen, Fedde de Jong (77. Vincent Pichel), Daniël van Kaam, Matthias Nartey ( 58. Roberts Uldrikis), Milan Smit, Remco Balk
Referee: Robin Vereijken
Yellow cards: Marco Tol (SC Cambuur)
Score progression:
’77 0-1, Carlos Forbs
’80 2-0, Julian Rijkhoff
’90+3 2-1, Remco Balk
Number of spectators: 595
Yellow cards: Marco Tol (SC Cambuur)
Photo: www.dijksmedia.nl