Fireworks Disrupted Dutch Cup Final

The fireworks and smoke bombs which disrupted the Dutch Cup final between the Amsterdam based Dutch giant AFC Ajax and PEC Zwolle did not detar Zwolle from handing Ajax their most crushing and humiliating defeat since the beginning of this season. The end score was 5 - 1.

The scoreline was something that nobody can in true honesty have predicted, because Ajax is a much bigger club, richer, is on course to claim their fourth straight title of the Eredivisie and also plays regularly in Europe, - Champions League or Europa League, while FC Zwolle was just promoted to the Eredivisie a couple of Years ago.

Anyway, barely three minutes after the kickoff time, Ajax player, Ricardo van Rhijn, sent a thunderous of a missle-like shot from the outside the box, which the goalkeeper had no answer for.

Soon after the goal, fireworks and smoke bombs were thrown into the pitch, which made the referee to halt the match briefly. An advertising sign even caught fire as a result of the action of the unruely fans.

 

After the clearance of the debris from the pitch, the match restarted but this time, it seem like the action of the Ajax fans invigorated the Zwolle players, because by half time, they changed the scoreline to 4 - 1. This was a massive shock to not only the Ajax fans but also every football fans in Holland.

Ryan Thomas and Guyon Fernandez scored a brace each, with Bram van Polen adding one more as the icing on the cake.

The match was held up twice due to the fireworks and smoke bombs. The second time it happened, the game was stopped for a longer time and the players were removed from the pitch.

Ajax coach Frank de Boer and former goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who is now the chief marketing officer for the club, went and appealed to their fans, to stop throwing fireworks and smoke bombs into the field or the match will be abandoned.

''Stop throwing fireworks on the field, it's dangerous. If it happens again, the game will be abandoned,'' Van der Sar told them.

The game was then completed with PEC Zwolle winning their first KNVB Cup final (FA Cup). Zwolle had previously played and lost two finals in their history and that was in 1928 and 1977. So they were lucky in their third attempt. The match was played at Rotterdam's De Kuip Stadium, the home of FC Feyenoord.

 

Meanwhile, Ajax is still on course to win their fourth straight Eredivisie title. They are leading Feyenoord with six points and only two games are remaining to the end of the season. Read also: africanfootie.blogspot.com