waar het noorden zich bevond

[Perseas]

Hello,
It's about an article about a match Ajax played last Tuesday.
The sentence is: "Dit bleek vooral tijdens het tweede kwart van de wedstrijd toen Ajax niet meer in de gaten had waar het noorden zich bevond." Source.
My question is what the last part means, i.e. "waar het noorden zich bevond". I think it literally means "where the north was" but I still can't make sense. Thanks in advance.

 

[Peterdg]

It's a variation on the expression: "het noorden kwijt zijn", which means "to be desoriented (in a figurative way)".

If Ajax didn't know anymore "waar het noorden zich bevond" , it means that also that "zij het noorden kwijt waren", meaning that the structure in their game was lost.

 

[Perseas]

Thanks a lot, Peterdg.