Great European Night in Kiev
And the whistle goes. It is half-time here in Kiev. Dynamo Kiev leads Ajax 1-0 courtesy of a penalty from Myskin, after he tumbled in the box under pressure from de Bruijn and Michele. Ajax had contested the decision, but it stood, and Myskin scored the penalty himself. Ajax now needs two goals. Remember, they need to win here to go through.
Flannen…releases Thiers. Thiers with the shot. Off the crossbar! Kiev survives again. They have been under severe pressure from Ajax since the restart.
Understandable. Ajax needs the goals, and Kiev just needs to hang on.
Ajax have totally dominated the second half so far.
The ball goes out. And Huysegem is ready to change things. Thiers will come off.
He has been very lively, creating a lot of problems, but Huysegem has decided that he needs the experience and guile of Kafka on the pitch. It is a double substitution. Imre Szekely will also come on for Santiago Sarossa, the left-back. This should mean that they will switch to 3-1-2-2-2, with Flannen protecting the defence, and Battaglia and Tokiwa running the midfield.
This is interesting. They are bringing on somebody who can play as target man. This not only gives them another option, but also takes some pressure off Sofronie.
We will see how it works out. 20 minutes to go, and who knows how much after that.
Excellent sliding tackle from Flannen. Battaglia gets to the ball. Battaglia with a long pass… Header by Szekely. Oh, it’s fallen to Sofronie. Sofronie!
Wonderful through pass to Kafka. Kafka…Kafka…GOAL! Ajax have equalized with 7 minutes of normal time to go!
Look at this again. Szekely is big, he can win the aerial balls, and here he’s done it. Every Kiev player backtracking sees Sofronie, but Sofronie sees Kafka. One touch, and Kafka is through on the left. And tell you what, Kafka never looked like he was going to miss.
Huysegem’s gamble has seemed to done it. The two subs were involved in the goal. But the question now is, can they get another one, or would it be too little, too late?
It’s going to be a long night in Kiev.
Kafka, twisting and turning so well. He’s cut the ball back now. Switches the ball to his weaker right foot…A high ball from him. Tokiwa! Oh, what a fantastic goal! Pure technique, pure class.
What the hell were Kiev thinking. Look at how much space he’s got. You don’t leave a player like Tokiwa alone outside the box. The ball comes, nobody goes for the challenge, and he just swings, connects perfectly, and the keeper has no chance at all.
Surely, a contender for Goal of the Tournament.
Tokiwa Takuro has shown glimpses of his talent in the previous season, but he has really come into his own this season.
And Ajax may have just gotten the match winner here. We are going into injury time. Three minutes of it. And what a reversal of fortunes.
The look on Vashyinin’s face says it all.
Substitution again for Ajax. Surely to waste precious time. It’s the goal-scorer Tokiwa who will make way for Hans Vanagem, the teenage defender.
Here comes Ajax again. Kafka, Kafka, still Kafka. Kafka drives the ball across…Yusuf Ghaly taps it in…and it’s 3-1 to Ajax. Pure inspiration from Kafka. Simplest of goals for Yusuf.
This is turning to be one of those great European nights for Ajax.
Surely Kiev have no answer now.
The whistle goes, it’s all over. Kiev are out, Ajax go through behind Juventus, after staring at elimination right up till the 83rd minute, when Kafka equalized. Then they got the winner in the 89th, Tokiwa with a magnificent volley. And Yusuf rounded things up late in injury time.
A great achievement for the Dutch Champions. They have come to Kiev and done something no team has done for the past two years. Not even Juventus who were beaten 3-2 here on Matchday 1.
Ajax’s unbeaten run in the Champions’ League has just been stretched to 17 games.
A remarkable feat, considering that they had played Juventus, Kiev and Galatasaray away.
So, Ajax will celebrate tonight. They have reached the Round of Sixteen for the third consecutive season.
Flannen…releases Thiers. Thiers with the shot. Off the crossbar! Kiev survives again. They have been under severe pressure from Ajax since the restart.
Understandable. Ajax needs the goals, and Kiev just needs to hang on.
Ajax have totally dominated the second half so far.
The ball goes out. And Huysegem is ready to change things. Thiers will come off.
He has been very lively, creating a lot of problems, but Huysegem has decided that he needs the experience and guile of Kafka on the pitch. It is a double substitution. Imre Szekely will also come on for Santiago Sarossa, the left-back. This should mean that they will switch to 3-1-2-2-2, with Flannen protecting the defence, and Battaglia and Tokiwa running the midfield.
This is interesting. They are bringing on somebody who can play as target man. This not only gives them another option, but also takes some pressure off Sofronie.
We will see how it works out. 20 minutes to go, and who knows how much after that.
Excellent sliding tackle from Flannen. Battaglia gets to the ball. Battaglia with a long pass… Header by Szekely. Oh, it’s fallen to Sofronie. Sofronie!
Wonderful through pass to Kafka. Kafka…Kafka…GOAL! Ajax have equalized with 7 minutes of normal time to go!
Look at this again. Szekely is big, he can win the aerial balls, and here he’s done it. Every Kiev player backtracking sees Sofronie, but Sofronie sees Kafka. One touch, and Kafka is through on the left. And tell you what, Kafka never looked like he was going to miss.
Huysegem’s gamble has seemed to done it. The two subs were involved in the goal. But the question now is, can they get another one, or would it be too little, too late?
It’s going to be a long night in Kiev.
Kafka, twisting and turning so well. He’s cut the ball back now. Switches the ball to his weaker right foot…A high ball from him. Tokiwa! Oh, what a fantastic goal! Pure technique, pure class.
What the hell were Kiev thinking. Look at how much space he’s got. You don’t leave a player like Tokiwa alone outside the box. The ball comes, nobody goes for the challenge, and he just swings, connects perfectly, and the keeper has no chance at all.
Surely, a contender for Goal of the Tournament.
Tokiwa Takuro has shown glimpses of his talent in the previous season, but he has really come into his own this season.
And Ajax may have just gotten the match winner here. We are going into injury time. Three minutes of it. And what a reversal of fortunes.
The look on Vashyinin’s face says it all.
Substitution again for Ajax. Surely to waste precious time. It’s the goal-scorer Tokiwa who will make way for Hans Vanagem, the teenage defender.
Here comes Ajax again. Kafka, Kafka, still Kafka. Kafka drives the ball across…Yusuf Ghaly taps it in…and it’s 3-1 to Ajax. Pure inspiration from Kafka. Simplest of goals for Yusuf.
This is turning to be one of those great European nights for Ajax.
Surely Kiev have no answer now.
The whistle goes, it’s all over. Kiev are out, Ajax go through behind Juventus, after staring at elimination right up till the 83rd minute, when Kafka equalized. Then they got the winner in the 89th, Tokiwa with a magnificent volley. And Yusuf rounded things up late in injury time.
A great achievement for the Dutch Champions. They have come to Kiev and done something no team has done for the past two years. Not even Juventus who were beaten 3-2 here on Matchday 1.
Ajax’s unbeaten run in the Champions’ League has just been stretched to 17 games.
A remarkable feat, considering that they had played Juventus, Kiev and Galatasaray away.
So, Ajax will celebrate tonight. They have reached the Round of Sixteen for the third consecutive season.
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