PSV
Guus Hiddink handed Ronald Kuman, on the one hand, the champion, on the other - a team that lost two leaders of the attack: Beasley and Vennier of Hesselink were released on British bread. That is, the new coach had to solve a pleasant creative problem: to replace a couple of parts in a debugged football mechanism.
In the first half of the championship, Kuman literally reveled in work. The powerful Ivorian striker Koné looked more interesting than the Vennioor of Hesselink, while the Ecuadorian Mendes and the Mexican Salsido seemed to have grown up under the gaze of PSV coaches - they fit so nicely into the new team.
PSV was unstoppable. His gap was measured in double-digit points, and in the winter, Kuman undertook to sharpen the team for Euro success. He did the same a year earlier at Benfica. Then Kuman almost intentionally turned off the championship race, but in all respects he chopped up Liverpool and almost passed Barcelona.
In Holland there was no reason to fear for a national trophy. Periodic loss of points could not distract from the main thing - the work was in full swing. And so the English rival again grew up in front of Kuman, and again the coach was on top.
Arsenal was to be followed by Liverpool. But an unexpected failure occurred in the Kumanov program. PSV lost Alex - not just a defender, but the main figure of the defensive system. The frame rocked, the situation got out of coaching control. So they look at the fire, which can no longer be stopped - with horror in the eyes, with the understanding that you are losing everything. Cuman watched. And the rivals Ajax and AZ Alkmar were quietly creeping up behind ...
AJAKS
For three years, Henk ten Kate flashed on the Barcelona coaching bench next to Frank Raikard. They say that his tactical finds brought Barca to the championship in Spain and triumph in Europe. Ten Kate accepted the Ajax after the controversial work of Danny Blind. While the new owner looked around, “Ajax” failed the selection in the Champions League. The Dutch coaches have a creative approach to the matter, but even by these standards ten Kate was too zealous. He could start the match with three defenders, change the scheme in the middle of the half, then return to the original.
Ten Kate put the Spaniards Gabri and Roger Garcia, whom he knew well, into the base zone, until the club acquired Davids in winter. Ten Kate fantasized with an attack: sent to the center of Babel, and Huntelara forced to rush around the front. Ten Kate experimented with a chemist's obsession: something exploded, something gave an unexpected effect. Apparently, the only way he could build his team.
On March 18, in Eindhoven, ten Kate’s fantasies turned into a deafening explosion: Ajax defeated PSV 5-1. Happened! Finally, he found the perfect formula: add a bit of Davids to Hating, knead with Sneijder and throw the whole Huntelar there. Done! Paradoxically, it was Ajax that passed the championship smoother than its competitors and was obliged to take gold in the last round ...
AZ ALKMAR
AZ club development plan is progressive and involves painstaking work for the future . The contract with the chief “architect” Louis van Gal is re-signed until 2010. AZ in the best traditions of the Dutch selection is looking for young talents and in the best traditions of the national school it grows them. AZ football is van Gal's attacking fantasies, the efforts of promising youth and charisma of honored veterans.
Advancing in all tournaments, the club lived, nevertheless, a separate life, outside the tournament layouts and cup nets. Van Gal thought up how Arveladze could interact with Martens, how defender Yalens should insure the less experienced Donka, how opornik De Zeuw would support the attack. The scoreboard was important, but it was much more important that everything worked the way Van Gal imagined. After all, when it works, the scoreboard will always be in favor of AZ!
That's how the team worked all season. And, it seems, she didn’t even notice that before the last round she jumped to the first place ...
THE FINISH
PSV, Ajax and AZ Alkmar had equal points before the last round. In the best difference of goals scored and conceded goals ahead was AZ.
Apparently, unexpected leadership has become an unbearable burden for Alkmarans. AZ played with the hopeless outsider Excelsior and simply had to win to get the championship. But to sit in wait all season for the Van Gal team was easier than standing at the top for one day. Removing the goalkeeper in the 13th minute, the smashing counterattacks of “Excelsior” - AZ was confused and lost 2: 3, clearing the way for the giants.
Ajax and PSV had almost the same indicators of goal difference. Therefore, everyone had to not only win, but also score more. In the course of the second half of the PSV - Vitesse and Willem II - Ajax matches, the champion changed several times. As a result, the Eindhoven team finished their fight a little earlier with a score of 5: 1 and, with a sinking heart, waited for Ajax to answer. The Amsterdam team led 2-0 and hung on the Willem goal - they made another goal with the champions! But the team ten Kate could not score. And, exhaling, PSV players began to celebrate the championship.
And the players of AZ and Ajax fell on the grass. They wept, and microphones caught these powerless sobs ...
Timur CRANES