Dutch EreDivision
2005-12-30 - Heerenveen vs Ajax
A Sports Betting Pick by Erik
SC Heerenveen - AjaxThe most important news in front of this game is the transfer of Huntelaar to Ajax. Ajax pays 9 million euros for the striker and Huntelaar signed a contract which binds him to Ajax for the next 4,5 years.
SC Heerenveen is currently 8th in the rankings with 26 points out of 17 games. With the departure of Huntelaar they lose their main goal scorer this season, scoring 16 goals so far. SC Heerenveen has a decent home form this year, winning 5 times (Roda JC, NEC, RBC Roosendaal, FC Twente and FC Groningen), drawing twice (Willem II and FC Utrecht) and losing twice (PSV and Heracles Almelo).
Last week the club from coach Verbeek drew 2-2 away to RKC Waalwijk after being 2-0 down at HT. In the second half two goals from Huntelaar gave Heerenveen one point. The week before they secured a place in the next round of the Gatorade Cup with a 2-0 home win over VVV.
Ajax is currently 4th in the rankings with 30 points out of 17 games and seem to have refound their form. The last four games all ended up in a win for Ajax (Groningen and RKC Waalwijk at home, NAC Breda and Vitesse away).
Last game they beat Groningen 3-2 in the Arena after a 3-0 lead. The last ten minutes it looked like Groningen could get away with a point, but Nevland couldn't control the ball in the 92th minute.
Good news from the Ajax side is that Rosenberg and Charisteas finally seem to have found their scoring abilities. With Rosenberg scoring against RKC Waalwijk, NAC Breda and Groningen he scored three times in the last 4 games. Charisteas scored twice against Groningen and once against Vitesse and it seems that the 4-4-2 system Ajax is playing now instead of 4-3-3 really does good for both strikers.
Team news/injuries
SC Heerenveen has no important injuries and coach Verbeek will be able to field his strongest team.
Ajax knows the return of Emanuelson, Grygera and Heitinga.
Probable line-ups
SC Heerenveen: Vandenbussche, J. Drost, Hansson, Breuer, Seip, Pranjic, Bruggink, Bosvelt, Samaras, Huntelaar and Yildirim
Ajax: Stekelenburg, Trabelsi, Heitinga, Vermaelen, Juanfran, De Jong, Galasek, Sneijder, Boukhari, Rosenberg and Charisteas
Previous confrontations
28/10/2005 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 0-0
02/04/2005 SC Heerenveen - Ajax 2-1
27/01/2005 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 2-0
16/10/2004 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 1-3
25/02/2004 SC Heerenveen - Ajax 4-1
23/11/2003 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 3-1
29/05/2003 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 3-0
23/11/2002 SC Heerenveen - Ajax 0-3
17/03/2002 Ajax - SC Heerenveen 2-0
24/10/2001 SC Heerenveen - Ajax 5-1
Verdict
Ajax only managed to win once in the last five years away to Heerenveen and that was three years ago when they beat Heerenveen 3-0. Since this is the last game of Huntelaar he will want to show is qualities once more to the crowd and prepare Rosenberg and Charisteas for the competition they're going to get from him.
Ajax plays good lately but not fantastic. Against NAC Breda they created two chances and scored twice and against Groningen they gave too much away defensively.
Given the good results in the past years and the last game of Huntelaar before leaving to Ajax I fancy Heerenveen not to lose today.
Beware: The weather in Holland will be important here give the fact that snows all around the country. Especially in the north and east lies a lot of snow and there even is a small chance the game will be posponed.
