Ajax, PSV start Eredivisie season with win

Christian Eriksen of Ajax during the Dutch Eredivisie match vs. Roda JC Kerkrade on August 2, 2013 at the Amsterdam Arena in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.(Getty Images)

The Hague, Aug 4 (IANS): Reigning champions Ajax and last season’s runners-up PSV started the 2013-14 Eredivisie season with a win each.

Ajax opened Friday with a comfortable 3-0 win over Roda JC Kerkrade while PSV defeated ADO Den Haag 3-2 here Saturday. So far Ajax has kept most of the championship team intact with the loan signing of Bojan Krkic from FC Barcelona in addition, reports Xinhua.

Ajax dominated Roda for the entire match and could have scored more goals. Ricardo van Rhijn produced the first goal of the season in the eighth minute. The defender converted a rebound from a free-kick by Christian Eriksen. Ajax captain Siem de Jong doubled the score after a pass by Eriksen.

In the second half, Ajax failed to extend the lead and Roda came close to scoring. Guus Hupperts hit the post and after a foul by Daley Blind on Krisztian Nemeth, the visitors were rewarded a penalty. However, Wiljan Pluim missed the penalty. Five minutes from time Siem de Jong hit the post and Viktor Fischer scored from the rebound to make it 3-0.

“We played well in the first half but I am not satisfied with the second half. There was a phase of 10 minutes in which we lost the ball unnecessarily. That should not happen because we played ourselves out of the match in that phase. In the end we played better again,” Ajax coach Frank de Boer said.