Monday, December 29, 2008

South American connection

We may have found something here...it makes perfect sense...Suarez and Cvitanich...duh! On a day that Ajax said goodbye to its former #1 striker with fireworks and speeches, it was the two young South American stars that stole the show and created some fireworks of their own. The Argentinian and Uruguayan combined to score all 3 goals (all scored by Dario) Sunday at the Arena. What a day it was for Cvitanich, when the pressure of replacing a player like KJH must have felt stronger than ever. He showed the ArenA crowd that perhaps Danny Blind was right when he stated that Ajax already had KJH's replacement. Luis Suarez had a huge match as well, and showed that not only is he really great at flopping in the box and dribbling circles around people, he can also play the role of set up man, assisting on all 3 goals. Ajax are the hottest team in the Eredivise right now, which is great...hopefully the winter break won't slow down the momentum they have built up. The boys have 2 weeks off until they travel to Portugal for a friendly with Bundesliga #10 VfB Stuttgart. Stay focused guys.

Happy New Year!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Goal differential padded in Doetinchem

Wow, 6-0.....I remember when scorelines like this used to be the norm rather than a once in a while occurrence. We all know how important the goal differential can be at the end of the season, and Sunday's win over De Graafschap definitely helped pad that crucial statistic. One match left before the 3 week winter break, Den Haag at home on Sunday. AZ plays at home to NEC, certainly not a automatic win for them, which means that Ajax could finish up the first half of the season tied for first place. PSV and Twente play each other this weekend, which means one or both of those two teams will fall further off the pace as well.

So whats the impression of van Basten's first half of the season? Not too bad in my opinion. He has managed to get most of the new players acclimated to playing with each other, and has manged to brush off the departure of the teams most visible and dominant player with little more than a shrug. Not only are the big off season transfer players starting to play well (Sulejmani, Cvitanich), but unheralded newcomers like Eyong Enoh and 'unwanted' players like Leonardo are playing well and have made major contributions at critical moments this season. And all of this has taken place while Ajax has gone through one of the most injury plagued seasons in a long time. Not everything has been perfect, (bad losses at Heerenveen, Tilburg, and Volendam...), but the team has always managed to bounce back pretty well from each loss. Hell, Ajax is even doing well in Europe, which is much more than I can say for our friends at PSV or Feyenoord. Speaking of Feyenoord, as much as like to watch them suffer, its scary to think how quickly and easily this all seems to be happening to them. I ALMOST feel bad for them, but not quite. Same goes for PSV, especially with their awful European performances. I always root for the Eredivise in Europe, and things are not looking good. Ajax, Twente and NEC need to continue to play well in the UEFA Cup, or pretty soon the Holland is going to start to fall behind smaller countries/leagues like the Portuguese Liga and Greek Super League in not only peoples minds but more importantly, the UEFA coefficient.

Well, I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday, and I hope I get the away jersey I asked for this year :)

Cheers!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Its Fiorentina



Ajax discovered their UEFA Cup fate today, they have been paired with Fiorentina, the current #5 in Seria A. A progression to the round of 16 would bring a matchup with the Marseille/Twente winner. I don't know a much of Fiorentina other than Adrian Mutu's brilliance, but I'll assume that they play typical Italian football...our forwards will have to play their hearts out to score any goals against them. Ajax has not fared well against Italian competition recently, hopefully they can reverse this trend. UEFA Cup play resumes on Feb 18-19.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

NEC are through!


You can't help but be a little bit happy for NEC Nijmegen, who beat Udinese 2-0 tonight and
made it throught to the knock-out stages of the UEFA Cup. The little team that has always been in Vitesse's shadow has made history...good for the Eredivisie and great for them!

Bring on the CL dropout...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I did not get a chance to watch the NAC match on Sunday, but the result looked very impressive, even with NAC's recent struggles. I did get a chance to watch yesterday's final group stage match vs Slavia Prague, a rather meaningless game that Ajax managed to sleepwalk through and earn one point. A team that had yet to score a single goal in the group stages somehow managed to put 2 into Vermeer's nets by halftime, and only a very questionable injury time penalty (created by Suarez, shocker) saved a point for Ajax. I'm not sure why this team historically has given Ajax such a hard time, but I'm real glad this game did not carry more meaning for either team.
Not much to say about this game actually, Daley Blind made his European debut and played a good half of football, and Vurnon Anita played 90 minutes. That's about it. Ajax now waits for Friday's knockout stage draw where the will be paired with one of the following teams:

Werder Bremen, Aalborg, Girodins Bordeaux, Olympique Marseille, Shakhtar Donetsk, Fiorentina, Dynamo Kiev or Zenit St. Petersburg

All good teams, but certainly nothing to be extremely worried about, although I'm sure van Basten would prefer not to have to travel to Kiev or St. Petersburg.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Interesting news out of Liverpool...

Well this would be a surprise. Soccernet reported this morning that Ryan Babel is so fed up with his lack of playing time at Liverpool that he has been trying to convince the Merseyside brass to send him BACK to the ArenA on loan to kick start his career. Of course I'm biased, but this sounds like a great idea for the kid, not to mention a great idea for Ajax! Who needs KJH?!? Of course Liverpool does not really want to lose a talent like Ryan, so this probably will never happen, but man would I love to see him play in Amsterdam again. What a great talent he is, and it sucks that he's rotting on the bench up in England. I'll be following this story closely...


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Looks wierd doesn't it?

Yeah, I'm finding it hard to look at this picture too. KJH was unveiled today at the Bernabeu, where he will try to put some life into the struggling title hopes of the Madrid team. I guess we should all be happy for him, right? He's a class act and deserves a chance to win at the highest level. Besides, it will be really cool to watch Madrid if Huntelaar shows up next to Sneijder, Robin and van der Vaart.

Whats next for Ajax? According to Danny Blind, not much. His comments on the matter? "We have already signed Klaas Jan's successor". Whats this, a new signing already? No, unfortunately Danny was just referring to Dario Cvitanich, a player that honestly has a lot of potential, but has yet to show much for all the hype. Think about it though...sure KJH is a special player and was by far the biggest offensive threat that Ajax has had for years, but how much of an impact has he really had recently? When the transfer rumors started flying around last year, Huntelaar just seemed to slip into a funk that he only partially came out of this season before injuring his ankle. Suarez has picked up a lot of slack, the previously "unwanted" Leonardo has scored goals at crucial moments this season and I can totally see Miralem Sulejmani returning to the form that attracted Ajax to him last year. I ain't sweatin it!
What a surprising win in Hamburg last week, tough to loose points at home to Utrecht though. Today's UEFA Cup results did see Ajax through to the knockout stages, taking a lot of pressure out of the last group stage match against Slavia Prague. The knockout round includes the top 3 teams from each group and 8 Champions League drop-outs. 32 teams...that's a long way to go to reach Istanbul.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Ernst Bouwes/Hamburg

Being raised on SportsCenter and everything ESPN, I tend to frequent the ESPN Soccernet for news, scores and some pretty decent articles. One of my favorite writers is Eredivise columnist Ernst Bouwes. His columns are one of the few places on this site where the Dutch game is discussed in much detail, but his writings are very insightful into the history and current state of Dutch football. Here is a link to his most recent post on the current state of the Dutch youth academies:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=595933&sec=europe&root=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2&cc=5901

Tough loss in Alkmaar last weekend, I did not get a chance to see the match, but in general I'm not TOO worried about a loss there. AZ is a strong team and I see them being in the championship race down the stretch. Is this loss a disappointment following the PSV win? Sure it is, but this match was never seen as an easy win, and Ajax probably would have been happy to leave with just a point. That being said, I hope this loss does not lead to more instability with this team, especially with the critical UEFA Cup match coming up this week in Hamburg. The Martin Jol's team currently sit in 5th place in the Bundesliga and are coming off a 2-1 win over a struggling Werder Bremen team. They have won 6 out of 7 home matches this year and will be a difficult match up for our boys.

Side note: Former Ajacied midfielder Nigel de Jong has been ruled out until the new year and will miss this match.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Huge win

On a day of remembrance for the great Sjaak Wolfs, Ajax took a tremendous step forward today in their quest to regain the Eredivise title. After an awful pre-season, a weak showing in the Amsterdam Tournament, an opening week loss at Willem II and a thrashing at Heerenveen, there were some serious questions being asked about Marco Van Basten's team at mid-September. No less than six straight league wins later, and coming off a convincing win over the 4 time Landskampioen from Eindhoven, Ajax is in first place and is finally starting to show that they were worth all of the pre-season hype. Forget what happened in Volendam last week...this team sure seems like it has. The return of Enoh (starting XI) and Sulejmani (61st minute sub) from the injured list was the shot in the arm that Ajax needed to gain only its second Arena win ever against a PSV side that is having one of its worst string of results in years. This may have been the weakest PSV side that Ajax has ever faced at the ArenA...they look like a broken team with little confidence and a lot of problems. Thats always good news here. There are 3 or 4 really strong teams in the Eredivise this year, but PSV is not one of them. An interesting lineup was on the field for Ajax today, with 3 of the players deemed "dispensable" at the beginning of the season (Rommedahl, Kennedy, and Leonardo) seeing significant and productive playing time. Will van Basten hold steady with some of the changes he made today, particularly Enoh starting in Gabri's place? Based on the former Ajax Cape Town player's rock steady performance today (and Gabri's good play coming off the bench), that might be a safe bet. The kid is good.


We are all so used to paying attention to the point difference between Ajax and PSV, hoping they drop points here and there, and that Ajax can take advantage. I feel those days may temporarily be over. I'm going to officially write off PSV from this year's Eredivise title race. You heard it here first. What do I see now when I look at the standings? Level on points with NAC, two points up on Groningen and AZ. I don't want to even look at PSV anymore, they are toast...have fun down there with Feyenoord.
On a side note, anybody know why PSV NEVER changes their away kits?


Friday, November 14, 2008

Sjaak Wolfs 1931-2008


A reader has notified us that the legendary Sjaak Wolfs passed away today at the age of 76. If you don't know much about Sjaak or his long history with the club, I would highly recommend taking a few minutes to read this article written by Menno Pot a few years ago.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Rained out

Injuries, injuries, injuries...I can't remember a time when Ajax was hit so hard by injuries as they are right now. As much as it feels like a crutch (no pun intended), you really can blame yesterday's KNVB Beker loss in Volendam to the fact that van Basten just can't field a good team right now. The list of players is not only long but significant as well: Steks, Mitchell Donald, Ismail Aissati, Dennis Gentenaar, van der Heijden, Dario Cvitanich, Jeffery Sarpong, Miralem Sulejmani and now KJH are all sidelined. Throw in an groin injury for Urby and it spelled out a tough job for van Basten's team against the Eredivise cellar dwellers. 18 year old Marvin Zeegelaar made his Ajax-1 debut up front and had a respectable game, Evander Sno played well and Suarez was his usual self, but you could tell things were just not going to work out well with this rag tag group up front. A Leonardo for Sno substitution in the second half looked promising but failed to produce any goals.
While it definitely sucks to bow out of a competition like this so early and to a lowly team like Volendam, I'm sure deep down van Basten isn't too worried about it. The Beker was probably 3rd on the list of Ajax priorities at this point, behind an Eredivise title and a good UEFA Cup showing. The time and energy that this will free up may help the recovery of some the injured players, and will allow the team to focus on their more loftier goals for the year. Next up, a crucial Eredivise home match vs PSV this Sunday and a week from then another tough game in Alkmaar. The subs need to step it up!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Awkward but worth it


I've never had any desire to personally meet any of my personal heroes or celebrities that I admire. Not only do I think it would sort of 'ruin the magic', but I know I'll have absolutely nothing to say to them and look like a complete moron. I guess this explains my reaction when I got on the elevator to my honeymoon suite and realized that I was standing right next to Edgar Davids! Actually it was more like my lack of reaction, because I completely froze in place and didn't say anything or look at him. We both went up one floor, I got out first, started walking to my room, and noticed that he was following me! Edgar Davids was staying 2 doors down from my room! Holy crap! The rest of the day I cursed myself for not talking to him or getting a picture, (also for taking my Ajax jersey off 10 minutes prior), and walked around with my camera all day hoping that I would run into him again. Sure enough, the very next day I was in the hotel lobby when I saw him walking towards me. I could barely whisper his name to get his attention and ask if I could take a picture and blah blah blah I love Ajax and am a huge fan. You can kind of tell from his expression that he wasn't exactly thrilled, and honestly I don't remember him saying anything besides maybe a grunt or two, so it was a little awkward, but I'm glad I did it. It was an unexpected encounter that lasted about 15 seconds, but I'll never forget it.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Back to reality

Just got back from my honeymoon last night, thanks for all of your kind comments. Seven nights in Curacao is something that I would definitely recommend to anyone. I hope to write more tonight, but for now I can say that I did have a very interesting Ajacied encounter at the Curacao Marriott Beach Resort where we stayed. Anyone care to guess who? More to come later...

Monday, October 27, 2008

Syd is not dead...


Sorry i havent been posting recently (if anyone actually reads this blog), I'm getting married this weekend and just have not had time to 1) watch Ajax or 2) write about Ajax.


I'll be rested and ready and back in action in a few weeks though!
Hup Ajax!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Ajax to face Hamburg, Villa


Ok, so I'm going to pull a Sarah Palin here and choose not to comment on the Heerenveen match, but rather I'd like to talk about the UEFA Cup. The cup draw was this morning and Ajax have been placed in Group F along with Hamburg, Slavia Prague, Aston Villa and Slovakian side MSK Zilina. All in all, its a tougher draw for Ajax than at first glance, Hamburg was one of less intimidating Pot 1 teams that Ajax could have been grouped with, but a quick glace at the Bundesliga table shows them sitting on top. Aston Villa, also not exactly an intimidating English side, but they currently sit in fifth place, level on points with Arsenal. And then there is our old nemesis Slavia Prague, and the mystery team MSK Zilina. Its tough to say how I feel about this draw, I think if Ajax had performed a little better last weekend and could show a little more consistency I'd feel more confident, but confidence is hard to find these days for Ajax fans. The injury bug has started to hit the team pretty hard, Marco is fuming mad about the way his team is playing, and there are some big games coming up that Ajax has to find a way to win. Next up, a #1 vs #10 Eredivisie match up on Saturday...unfortunately Groningen is in first and Ajax is tenth.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Now its down to 40

Ajax' convincing 2-0 win over an extremely lame FK Borac yesterday has propelled them into the final 40 (yes 40) teams in the UEFA Cup group stage. This match was never really in doubt as Ajax completely dominated possession and shots on goal, although it took an absolute cracker from Jeffery Sarpong in the 71st minute to open the scoring. A 6-0 scoreline would have been more representative of this match, which once again highlights the finishing issues this team seems to have. I wouldn't chalk up that many missed opportunities from this match to the Borac keeper, we just simply couldn't put it in the net. There was plenty of reason to be optimistic though, Ajax played well, there were no major injuries (although there is some bad news out today about Steks), and Ajax can now wait to see who they are paired with when the groups are announced on Tuesday. Ajax has been placed in a seeding pot (and therefore will not be grouped with) the following teams : Stuttgart, Olympiacos, Deportivo, Club Brugge, Spartak Moskva, PSG, and Heerenveen. Of course, big names still lurk out there, teams like Milan, Sevilla, Valencia, and Schalke could all be possible group mates.
Next up, a tough match at Heerenveen on Sunday. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see this one...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Convincing 3 - 0 win over Vitesse



Ok, so I'm hoping that my credibility won't totally be in shambles after writing this, but once again I did not get to see the match this weekend. To be fair, I am getting married in exactly 30 days, so I'm kinda up to my neck in wedding planning on the weekends. Jan has a good match report here. Next up, hopefully a quick and injury free home UEFA win over Borac on Thursday. Further ahead, tough Eredivisie matches at Heerenveen on Sunday and then at home to current top of the table Groningen.

Friday, September 26, 2008

2 - 0 Cup Win




I finally had time to watch an Ajax match yesterday, and the KNVB Cup match against Utrecht turned out to be a good one to watch. Ajax dominated this match from the start and should have won by much more than the 2 - 0 final score.

A half empty (but still rather boisterous) ArenA crowd watched a masterful Ajax attack continuously bombard the Utrecht goal, but young Michel Vorm kept his side in the game until the last 20 minutes. A rarely tested Ajax back line looked solid, with excellent games turned in by Urby and new boy Eyong Enoh in particular. Van Basten praised his new midfielder, who impressed in a substitute role against Feyenoord and played the full 90 yesterday in place of Evander Sno. But the player that impressed ME the most yesterday was man of the match Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan winger was all over the pitch, shedding defenders, finding open space, creating a penalty shot and then scoring a beautiful goal from an impossible angle just a minute after KJH had missed the aforementioned PK. Suarez then layed a perfect pass off to KJH in the 87th minute that Klaas easily converted to seal the victory.

Ajax played well and looked like the well oiled machine they are supposed to against a Utrecht team that really never showed up to play. The one bonehead play of the day was an awful clearance/pass/whatever is was by Steks early in the first half that basically gave an Utrecht player the ball with about 20 yards of open space between him and the goal. Thankfully Urby was there to clean up his mess.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Lucky penatly saves a point for Rotterdammers


Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see the match, so I can't write much of a report, but I did see some highlights and overall it seemed to be a very entertaining match that Ajax probably should have won but shouldn't be too disappointed with a point. Here are just a few of the pics that the guys at Ajaxfotside.nl (always worth checking out for a fan's perspective on the match) have posted. Good news: PSV lost to AZ, dropping their first points of the year. Bad news: reports today say that Miralem Sulejmani could be sidelined for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury. Interesting news: Eyong Enoh got his first taste of playing time in the 75th minute. Not sure how he played, anyone care to comment on this? Bottom line: Feyenoord has not beaten Ajax since February 2006.




Friday, September 19, 2008

Winner winner...chicken dinner

UEFA CUP First Round

Borac Cacak 1 - 4 Ajax

Great win. More to come later.

Highlights here (for now):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv3Ii88PaTY

Monday, September 15, 2008

One small step forward

This is a HUGE week for Ajax. With the opening round UEFA Cup match in Serbia on Thursday and the Klassieker in Rotterdam on Sunday, and after an opening weekend shock loss at Willem II, Sunday's home match vs Roda JC was one of the most crucial early season games that Ajax has played in a long time. If the past few Eredivisie campaigns have shown us anything, its that you gotta win the games you are supposed to. Ajax was supposed to win in Tilburg. Strike one. I hate to use a baseball reference, but honestly if they had lost this game to Roda, a game that they 'should' win, it would have a been a huge swing and miss for strike two. Can you really hope to be landskampioenen after strike 3? Probably not.
Ajax actually played well on Sunday, not exactly inspired, but well enough to get a deserved win. Roda hardly created any chances and rarely tested Steks in goal, which honestly I would attribute more to their lack of imagination and effort than to anything the Ajax defense did. I am starting to worry about Oleguer's foot speed, he looked like me out there a few times. The guy is slow. Urby, Vermaelen and Van der Wiel were solid, but again, not really tested.
Evander Sno is exciting to watch. Scary sometimes, but exciting. And he's got a very lively shot that I hope he pulls out more often. As for the rest of the midfield and forwards, it was a game to forget. KJH was even pulled in the 80th minute after a lackluster performance and missing numerous opportunities to end his five match scoreless streak. For some reason Leonardo started the match, and really looked uncomfortable out there. On one hand I felt bad for the guy, but his removal and replacement was overdue when Suarez came on in the 59th minute.
It took a well placed header by a wide open (i mean WIDE open) Vermaelen to put Ajax ahead just ten minutes after the half.
All in all, it was a deserved 3 points. Hopefully the trip to Serbia won't turn out like some recent matches vs Eastern European competition (see Slavia Prague, Dinamo Zagreb), and hopefully Ajax won't return to Amsterdam with their collective tails between their legs before the trip to Rotterdam.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

SI is not my normal source for news, but this is a well written article about the current state of the Eredivisie. Yes, I'm feeling very un-inspired to write much these days. I am hoping to see an improved Oranje showing today, especially after loosing to the Socceroos last weekend in Eindhoven(yikes). Nice goal Klaas, nice back pass Johnny.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/world_soccer/09/10/dutch.soccer/index.html

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Eredivise Standings


I didnt get to see the match last weekend, but it obviously was not a good result. Matt has a good write up as usual here. Naturally PSV is starting off right where they left off last season and we are 3 points back already. Super.
But, its one game. PSV will loose more games this year than they did last year, and Ajax will get better. I'm trying to rise above all the negativity that this loss is creating, and to maintain a reasonable perspective on the season as a whole.
Serenity now.
Hey, at least it finally looks like KJH is staying put.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Ajax face FK Borac in UEFA Cup

Ajax have been paired with Serbian Superliga side FK Borac in the first round of the UEFA Cup. The first leg will take place at the ArenA on September 18th, and the return leg in Cacak on October 2nd. Borac defeated Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Sofia to get to this stage.

What do I know about this team? Well, not much honestly, but my research this morning has come up with the following. Last season Borac finished fourth in the Serbian SuperLiga (formerly known as the MeridianSuperLiga) which is currently ranked 21st in the UEFA national league rankings, behind the Austrian Bundesliga, Norwegian Premier League and Danish Superliga, but ahead of the Swedish Allsvenskan. The one team that you may have heard of from this league is Partizan Belgrade. Borac is already 2 games into their season, drawing both matches. I have no idea what brand of football they play, but I'm going to assume that it will be very similar to what we faced last season in Zagreb and Prague. Marco doesn't have to win the UEFA Cup this year, but he definitely needs to be able to field a team that can roll over a club like this. Ajax needs to regain the swagger they once had, and crushing inferior competition like this is part of that process. Show no mercy!
I need some coffee.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Game Feed?

Anyone have a good link for the game on Saturday? I don't see anything listed on my go-to site http://www3.myp2p.eu/competition.php?&competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=football&allowedDays=7

I'm hoping they have it here?
http://www.sbs6.nl/web/show/id=136046/langid=43

Please respond is you found something else.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Sno returns to Ajax

Ajax.nl is reporting that Ajax have signed 21 year old Celtic midfielder and former Ajax youth player Evander Sno to a 3 year deal. Sno recently played with Oranje in Beijing, receiving a red card in the first match vs. Nigeria and starting in the 2-1 loss to Argentina. He played 49 matches in all for Celtic, but failed to live up to high expectations after his transfer from NAC in 2006. My first impression when I saw this story was that he was going to come on in a defensive midfield role, but his comments today make me wonder where he is going to end up playing, “I want a place in the midfield, either in the holding role or trying to move forwards." Yeah, good luck with that....so, who knows what impact this signing will have, but I would say that I am not a big fan of Ajax signing players that "couldn't cut it" at other clubs. Does this mean the end of Ajax' interest in Robbie Wielaert? Hopefully not, but I would be a bit surprised if that did end up working out based on how badly Steve McLaren seem to want to keep him.

Monday, August 18, 2008

A little frustrated?

After being completely out of the loop for the past week, my first foray back into Ajax news this weekend was a glance at the fotoverslag from the Murcia friendly on ajax.nl. This picture told me all I needed to know. Two losses to two of the biggest clubs in Europe in the Amsterdam Tournament, although a bit disappointing, were not really anything to be upset about. A 2-1 loss at a second division Spanish side that most people have never heard of...well again, this picture says it all. It was a "terrible performance" according to van Basten, and the frustration isn't limited to the coaching staff. KJH classified the game as "something to worry about". Fans seem frustrated as well based on what I've been reading on the message boards. Its obvious that Ajax still needs that additional defender that they have been chasing for the past few weeks, and the new additions may not have completely gelled with the rest of the squad yet. Ajax opens the Eredivisie season with what hopefully will be an easy away victory over Willem II this weekend but then get two weeks to prepare for Roda at home and then the Klassieker at De Kuip a week after that. An stumble out of the gate or a loss in Rotterdam would make people really start to worry. Ajax has yet to really impress, so a good showing in Tilburg will be critical to the team's confidence level heading into the more difficult games in September. I have a feeling that the may be a season of parity in the Eredivisie, and we may witness another close race down to the wire, so every point will count, as will every goal.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Posts have been scarce around here recently, hopefully I'll have time to do more writing in the next few weeks. I didn't get a chance to follow the UK friendlies last weekend, but the results looked respectful and Matt's write-ups on the Offside are encouraging (nice job defense!). I did find this low-res highlight video from the Cardiff match that's actually worth checking out. Things are getting cranked up to a new level this weekend with the start of the Amsterdam Tournament. Games with Arsenal on Friday and Inter on Saturday will certainly prove to be a stern test for this revamped Ajax team. This tournament's unusual points-scoring system rewards an attacking style of voetbal and will definitely shed more light on how improved the Ajax back line really is. Hopefully we'll at least do better than Feyenoord did in their Jubilee Tournament :) The game is available on myP2p ( http://www3.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=16124&part=sports )

Thursday, July 31, 2008

This weekend

Ok, so its been a while since I've done any work on this page, mainly b/c I've been busy as hell now that the XM/Sirius merger is finally complete (hell yeah!). We do have an action packed weekend coming up. Friday is the the Ajax - Cardiff City friendly and then on Sunday Ajax has another friendly vs. Sunderland. I always love it when Ajax plays English sides, mainly because I think the English just love Ajax and love Dutch players and teams. Hopefully see a good showing from some/all of the new players.

Friday, July 25, 2008

New away shirt


My first impression? Looks like a training jersey to me. Very uninspired looking. Oh well.
Thoughts?




Wednesday, July 23, 2008

New blood

So, the new season is on the horizon and the Eredivisie is set to welcome back the 'Other Oranje' FC Volendam and our good friends ADO Den Haag. Jim and Menno from Ajax-USA have thankfully maintained the Eredivisie Teams section of their wonderful website, follow the links below to learn all you'd ever want to know about either of these two teams and their histories.


Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Oleguer In

Ajax and Barcelona have agreed to a €3m transfer fee for the Catalan defender, he is traveling to Amsterdam and should sign in a day or two.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Barca raid?

Ok, so maybe I should have given Danny and Marco the benefit of the doubt when it came to the progress they had made this off season in signing a defender. The Algemeen Dagblad reported today that Danny Blind has traveled to Barcelona to hopefully complete the transfer of possibly two of the Spanish giants defenders to the ArenA. The main target seems to be Oleguer Presas i Renom ("Oleguer"), the 28 year old Catalan native, left wing political activist and fixture in Frank Rijkaard's starting eleven last year. Oleguer's anti-government, radical Catalan political moves have almost overshadowed his moves on the pitch at times, but the fact remains that this guy is a solid player and would be a HUGE boost to our back line.

Also on Blind's agenda may be an attempt get Henrique to come to Amsterdam on loan. Ajax had originally been in the race to sign the former Palmeiras defender, who eventually choose to move to Barca instead. Probably not a candidate for a starting position in next year's Barca team, most people think that being loaned out somewhere else would be best for his development at this point.
So, definitely good news on the transfer front, and with the signing of Aissati merely a formality at this point, it could be a very very good week for Ajax and our prospects for next season. Whats not so good? A 5-2 win over VV Noordwijk yesterday. Goals from Sarpong, Leonardo (thanks, now please leave), Luque (you are still here?), van der Heijden and Suarez.
AD link here:

Friday, July 18, 2008

A broader spectrum...

This blog has always been focused 100% on Ajax, the Eredivise, and Oranje. But there are so many other reasons to love the Netherlands. From time to time I may start throwing in random non-voetbal related posts about the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, because my love affair with Ajax doesn't only exist within the confines of the ArenA. My experiences there have made Holland feel like a home away from home, and I think I'd enjoy writing a post here and there about some of my favorite things that make Holland what it is.
Tot ziens...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Deal struck for Aissati?

Reports are coming out this morning that Ajax and PSV have actually agreed to terms on the transfer of 19 year old midfielder Ismail Aissati. I know rumours were flying around about this transfer but I really never though this would actually happen. Transfers between the big 3 in Holland have been few and far between recently (besides Perez), especially when it comes to young up and coming talents like Aissati. As exciting of a prospect as this deal may be, its getting very close to the start of the season and Marco STILL has not brought in any help for the back line and anyone that says that Aissati will be a defensive midfielder is on crack. So will this year's Ajax end up being a carbon copy of the Euro 08 Oranje squad? A beautiful attack with a questionable back line? That's a scary thought. To make things worse, it looks like Henrique, the one defender that van Basten seems to be showing a lot of interest in is very close to signing a large deal with Barca, who may then loan him out to Bayer Leverkusen.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Great Video

Wow, this is a really cool video on Dutch forwards, old and new. Check it out, but skip the first 30 seconds...

http://www.blinkx.com/video/the-power-of-dutch-forwards/qk_dDAXFtglkEipft7rQaw

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Ajax sign Sulejmani

Ajax and Heerenveen have finally agreed to terms for the transfer of Miralem Sulejmani, Marco Van Basten's main transfer target this off season. After months of rumors and typical back and forth maneuvering between the two clubs, an Eredivisie record fee of 16.25 million euros has finally been agreed on to bring the 19 year old Serb striker to the ArenA for four years. This will once again add fuel to the constant talk of KJH leaving the club, but regardless of Klaas' future, this is a very exciting signing for Ajax. Sulejmani is one tough little SOB, and he'll bring a sort of Edgar Davids-esque bulldog mentality to the forward position that Ajax has not seen in a long time. This signing may be the end of any Ajax interest in Russian striker/Russian Premier League top scorer/Oranje killer Roman Pavlyuchenko, which has been rumored recently. So its looking like we will be pretty solid up front next year, now how about that back line Marco?

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=763880

http://www.ajax.nl/web/show/id=154417/contentid=66811

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Wouldn't one of these look better?

What the hell were they thinking?
















Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Well...at least the wait is over

So the new home jerseys are out today, and I gotta say I'm a bit disappointed. I didn't realize how much I'd miss the ABN-AMRO logo, this new Aegon lettering just looks really odd to me. And the patch just looks so out of place doesn't it? I dunno, hopefully I'll get used to it eventually but my first impression is YUK! At least there is no collar or V-neck, both of which I can't stand. Adidas will unveil the away shirt on July 25th.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Heits replacement found?

A few sites are reporting that Ajax has offered Palmeiras of Brazil 8 million Euros for their 21 year old defender Zagueiro Henrique. He doesn't seem to have much experience, but has made enough of an impression in the few games that he has played to attract interest from both Ajax and Barca.


I havent been able to find much info on the guy, so if you see something please pass it on...

Monday, June 23, 2008

Amsterdam Tournament

I may or may not eventually post something about the Russia match, but honestly I don't really feel up to it. Its just way to depressing to have to think about it again, I'd rather just forget it and move on.


There is a bit of news on the Ajax front, Ajax.nl is saying that the new kits should be avialable on July 1. Woo hoo.

Also, the lineup for this year's Amsterdam Tournament is up as well, with Sevilla, Inter and Arsenal being invited to the ArenA. Ajax will play Inter and Arsenal, but not Sevilla.


Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A walk in the park

Unbelievable. Beautiful. Dominant. Those would be the 3 words I'd use to describe Orjange's ascension from Euro 2008 'favorites' (along with 5 or six other nations), to actual FAVORITES. I'd love to hear if anyone can ever remember a display like this from a Dutch team, and I'm not only talking about goals and wins, but the absolute beauty that they are injecting into this tournament. Seriously, what the hell is going on with these guys. What has happened? Why are they playing SO much better than they were in qualifying? Is the formation change from the good ol' 4-3-3 to this magical new 4-2-3-1 the main reason? I think that has to be the answer, they LOOK like a completely different team out there. I think v.Nistelrooy's recent comments sum it up pretty well: "There's more movement, it's less predictable for our opponents and we are less position-bound. We've got our duties, but have more liberty to make moves up front and that's more difficult to defend against." It sure does Ruud, nobody seems to be able to defend against the new and improved Oranje offensive onslaught. And the best part is that the entire team seems to be getting in on it. Everyone is playing well and seven different players have scored goals at this point.
But I am worried. I'm worried that we will be shocked by either Sweden or Russia in the knockout stages, or my worst fear, that we will end up losing to Italy in a semi-final rematch (damn you Mutu!). Its almost like things are going TOO good at this point...like its just a set up for a colossal failure.
Anywho, its was good to see Klaas get a goal yesterday, and all 3 Ajacied (well, recent Ajacied) played reasonably well. Steks only had to make one save, but looked solid back there, and Heits had some deer in the headlights moments but overall played well.
I'm hoping for Russia.

Monday, June 16, 2008


Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Always look on the bright side of life...

WOW. What a game! What a result! What a performance! HAHA!!!! YES! Greatest football match I've ever seen! Who could have imagined a 3-0 Oranje victory over the Italians!?! Who would have thought that the Dutch supporters would be chanting "Always look on the bright side of life" to the departing Azzuri fans in the dying minutes of the game?!? After 5 completely listless and boring matches leading up to this one, and with a 0-0 result from the France/Romania game, I was truly expecting both of these teams to play very conservatively, with neither wanting to risk ending up at the bottom of the table. Within 10 minutes of the start, it was obvious that the Dutch had something else in mind. Never in my life have I seen midfield play like the masterpiece that van der Vaart and Sneijder delivered, and the much maligned back line looked awesome.
The first goal? UEFA has come out this morning and stated that the officials interpreted the rules correctly and made the right call, so what else can you say about it? Would it have mattered if Ruud was called off? I doubt it. Holland was well organized, motivated, and clinical in every aspect of the game. This honestly reminded me of the US/England game a few weeks ago. Much like the US in that game, yesterday the Italians seemed confused and couldnt come up with the touch needed to string together more than 1 or 2 passes. Maybe Cannavaro's absence impacted their play, maybe they just underestimated the Dutch, maybe they just aren't that good.
The second goal was just perfectly sublime. What can you say about it, it will go down with van Basten's '88 volley as one of the best ever. What makes it a better goal to me is that it was the result of an absolutely perfect counter attack. You could just see van Bronkhorst after he cleared that shot off the line, he was screaming for the ball...he had so much space in front of him...and the pass to him was perfectly laid out for him to run on to. When he sent his cross over in Kuyt's direction I really didn't think Dirk would be able to do anything with it, but his soft header to Sneijder was right where it needed to be, and the man of the match's finish made my jaw drop. A great goal, but a 2-0 lead still just didn't seem like enough. I was happy, but still worried. The second half saw the Dutch back on their heels for long periods of time, but the surprise back line of van Bronkhorst, Mathijsen, Ooijer and Boulahrouz (no Heits?) stood strong with help from Engelaar and De Jong. I thought Engelaar in particular played excellent, as did the one guy that I was worried about the most, Mathijsen, who had the pleasure of marking Toni for most of the night. The second half did see some chances for Toni and the Azzuri, but Gio's goal off another perfect counter attack with about 10 minutes left put the game away and ensured Italian embarrassment.
This may be a beginning of an the end for the old dinosaurs of European soccer. The decade long domination by the Italians and French may have finally come to an end, and we are all going to benefit from it. The Dutch reminded the world what exciting football can look like. Hopefully the days of plodding along, playing boring defensive football, and scoring one goal and then sitting on it are over. The Azzuri are naturally getting absolutely killed in the Italian press today. They have some major problems to deal with, as does France, who looked totally worthless yesterday against a pesky Romanian team. Things are looking good for Holland, and a +3 goal differential doesn't hurt. Its only the first round of games, but the Dutch look to be the class of the tournament at this point. But can they keep it up?...that's what I'm going to keep wondering until the match against the French on Friday....the 13th.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Exodus

As much as I hate to see Eredivisie talent leave for other leagues, I must admit to feeling a twinge of happiness when I read the following article....

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=724651

It seems that the Eindhovians may be losing another player that has played an integral part in their success over the past few years. With Gomes pretty much gone (although stories have been going around recently about new PSV boss Hubb Stevens trying to convince him to stay), the loss of Farfan would definitely be a blow to their attempt at a 5 - peat. Granted, he only had 8 goals last season, but his pace and free-kick abilities have always impressed me and I will not be sad to see him leave.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The Worst Football Dives Ever -- Ham Actors

Ok, slow news time...but some of these are fucking hilarious!

There is a bit of news actually, Ajax has told Luque, Leonardo, Edgar Manucharyan, Nicole Mitea and Robert Schilder that they are free to leave the club. The one name on here that surprises me is Leonardo, and you have to feel for him. He was a great player at NAC before coming to Ajax and started off well in Amsterdam as well, but that awful ACL injury that he suffered last year seems has proven too much to come back from. Hopefully he'll find some playing time elsewhere, he's only 25. As for Luque...probably some of the worst money Ajax has ever spent. Good riddance.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Bummer


Ryan Babel picked up an a rather serious ankle injury in today's Oranje training session and has been ruled out for the entire Euro 08 campaign. As much as this must suck for Ryan, it looks like he may have not been destined for a lot of playing time even if he was healthy. Marco van Basten quickly named defender Khalid Boulahrouz as his replacement, which leads me to believe that a) he thinks he has a plethora of talent already up front and he doesn't consider Babel a significant loss and b) he obviously does not have confidence in that back line. Its just bad timing for the kid regardless. I really think he could have made a difference with his pace and the power he can put behind the ball.

Thursday, May 29, 2008


Not much to report these days, apart from Chelsea apparently firing Henk ten Cate...

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=540754&cc=5901

In other news, Ajax.nl recently posted a rather boring list of pre-season friendlies. Hopefully some more interesting Amsterdam Tournament opponents will be named soon?

Saturday 19 July: Noordwijk - Ajax (Noordwijk, 3 p.m.)

Tuesday 22 July: Germanicus - Ajax (Coevorden, 7.30 p.m.)

Thursday 24 July: Excelsior ’31 - Ajax (Rijssen, 7.30 p.m.)

Saturday 26 July: Team Jaap Stam - Ajax (Zwolle, 8.30 p.m.)

Sunday 3 August: Sunderland - Ajax (Sunderland, 3.30 p.m. local time)

Sunday 17 August: Real Murcia - Ajax (Murcia, time to be confirmed)


If you care to watch today's Oranje match vs Denmark...I hear Steks may be in goal?


Friday, May 23, 2008

20 years later?

With the Eredivisie season mercifully coming to an end last week, its time to turn our attention to what could be a very exciting summer for the men in Oranje. Am I looking at this schedule correctly? Is the Italy match really only 2 weeks away? Guess I'd better start looking for my oranje pigtails.

So its been 20 years since Holland won their only European Cup in those sweet wallpaper-esque shirts. Van Basten was the top scorer with 5 goals (including 3 against England in the group stages), a 2-1 win over hosts West Germany eased a bit of the pain felt after the '74 WC final, and a convincing 2-0 win over the Soviets (yes, that's how long ago it was), finally gave the Netherlands the respect they deserved. Since then, things have been...well, not so great. Despite being regarded as one of the greatest footballing nations in the world, the Dutch have also managed to be labeled one of the biggest disappointments as well.

Ok, enough of the history lesson.

In a sign of the times, with Heitinga gone and Hunetlaar pretty much out the door, Steks could end up being the only true Ajacied on Van Basten's final roster. And he's on the bench! Ouch. The team does look good though, and its nice to see some old familiar names like Melchiot and Van Bronkhorst still in the mix with the younger generation of players that dominates the roster these days. Whatever the final line up looks like, they are going to have a tough time getting out of Group C. Italy of course is always a scary team to play, but the team that worries me the most is the Romanians, a team that Holland could only muster a 0-1-1 record against in qualifying. I wouldn't be surprised to see France at the bottom of this group. If Oranje manages to get by the group stages, they would be pared with either the winner or runner up of Group D, which includes Sweden, Spain, Greece and Russia, all of which are beatable teams.

One thing is for sure, the last thing I want to see is for Holland to end up last in that group with Van Basten headed to 'rescue' Ajax.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Jolly Green Giant!!

I really could have cared less who won that game yesterday, but it was really cool to the former Ajacied and current Oranje keeper come through in the clutch like that. When you look back at the 37 year old's PK track record (loosing in 95-96 with Ajax in the CL final and twice with the national side), its especially nice to see him do well in that situation. Today he is being called a hero, and honestly I can't really disagree. None of the other United players really deserve that title after the putrid second half and extra- time performance they put in and Var der Sar made a couple of brilliant saves during the match to limit Chelsea to one goal. And your heart just has to go out to poor John Terry, that is just the peak of suckdom.

Is it pathetic that I got a little giddy when the ESPN announcers mentioned Ajax when they were talking about Seedorf and Van der Sar? Its is isn't it....I have problems...