Sure, Ajax and PSV have dominated Dutch Football for as long as anyone can remember, and that’s not about to change. AZ is slowly getting to the level where they can compete, and Feyenoord is not so slowly falling behind. So on first glance, parity is not the word that would best describe the Dutch league. But we found it yesterday, parity-wise, the Dutch league comes closer than any other league in the world, and was indeed decided, very much so, up in the sky.
Olympique Lyon clinched the French title roughly halfway through the season, as did Celtic in Scotland and Internazionale in Italy. Chelsea is (only?) five points of the pace in England and Spain and Germany look like they will be close, but yesterday’s finish in the Dutch League redefined what a race to the wire really is. Check the bar to the right to try and keep up:
From the kick-offs at 2:30 PM, the ‘title’ changed hands five times. Five. Times. AZ started out as virtual champions, but quickly lost that honour when PSV scored twice in the first ten minutes of their game against Vitesse in Eindhoven. They also conceded one, meaning Ajax would be champions if they would just score once in Tilburg. And they did. AZ, meanwhile, messed things up very thoroughly and wouldn’t rear its head in the title race again until later in the afternoon. PSV needed to outscore Ajax overall, and did when they reached the 4-1 to take the virtual crown once more. Ajax, of course, would have none of that and went up 0-2, only to see PSV notch their fifth and go up again. AZ managed to equalize at 2-2, creating a situation in which, for the final twenty minutes of the game, a single goal by any of these three teams would have been enough to ensure them the championship.
It didn’t come, so PSV’s fifth and final goal of the day was enough to ensure them the championship. By one goal. Over 34 games.
Gracias to Niva for the kick ass graphic representation.
3 comments:
Madness, is all I can say. Losing the title by an odd goal is painfull. I'd rather lose by one point. So damn close. Oh well....
Keep up the good work man. I enjoy reading your work.
Wow. This reminds me of the Scottish Premier League a few years ago, when Rangers and Celtic won their final matches 6-1 and 4-0 respectively, giving Rangers the title on goal differential by one goal.
Exciting stuff. Though, I must say, I hope the Spanish League avoids such nonsense and ends with another boring parade through Barcelona. :)
lazy bitch, write something.
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