Man...i haven't made a post here in a long time. Why not? A few reasons...mostly lack of time, a slowly decreasing level of interest in this past season and a lack of desire to just bitch and moan in my posts about how fed up I was/am with the sorry state of Ajax football. And no, there is no correlation between my lack of posts and a similar situation going on with Matt on the Offside blog...me thinks he may have a more reasonable excuse than I do.

Congrats to AZ, they played fantastic (but boring) football all season. Hopefully they will represent the Eredivisie well next year in the Champions League along with Twente.

Fiorentia v Ajax Here

Sorry for the crappy feed...its all I could find working.

Interesting video

Here's an up close view of the 'pitch invasion' of Ajax supporters during a recent training session. I can't make out much of what they are saying b/c my Dutch sucks, maybe someone else can? I give Marco credit for at least spending the time to talk to these guys, who do seem rather belligerent and drunk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEJnB3a6WlA&NR=1

Ajax relegated to Big Apple Youth Soccer League

A string of terrible results has forced Eredivise officials to relegate Ajax Amsterdam to one of the lower divisions of girls soccer in Burlington, Vermont. Ajax will play their first match on Sunday vs. current 3rd place side "Its a girl thang!". Said Marco van Basten, "The boys better come to play this weekend, they think they had a tough game in Arnhem...wait till they have to deal with those soccer mom supporters. I just hope we can match their intensity level".

In other news, Ryan Babel has officially been labeled the biggest disappointment in Liverpool history.

Van der Wiel gets Oranje call up

Gregory Van der Wiel has been called up to the Oranje squad that is set to face Tunisia in a friendly match this coming Wednesday. Its a well deserved recognition for crafty 21 year old defender. The only other Ajacied in Bert van Marwijk's squad is Steks in goal. The full line-up is below:

Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord)

Defenders: John Heitinga (Atletico Madrid), Joris Mathijsen (SV Hamburg), Dirk Marcellis (PSV Eindhoven), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Edson Braafheid (Twente Enschede), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax Amsterdam)

Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), David Mendes da Silva (AZ Alkmaar)

Forwards: Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Real Madrid), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid)

>>Update: Did anyone see Ryan Babel miss the absolute sitter of sitters this weekend vs. Portsmouth? OH MY GOD RYAN!!!

New Ernst Bouwes column

For all you Ernst fans out there...here is his most recent Eredivisie article.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=615883&sec=europe&root=europe&cc=5901

Title hopes are toast

Wow, what the hell has happened to Ajax? The loss in Groningen was understandable. The loss at home to Heerenveen not so understandable. Dropping points at home to Heracles is unforgivable. Yesterday's 2-2 draw looks like it will the the final nail in the coffin for Ajax's Landskampioenen hopes. Just when we all thought things were coming together for the boys with 5 straight wins and 19 goals scored, things have completely gone to shit. Ajax has pretty much handed the title to AZ, and now they are in a dogfight just to hold on to the 2nd Champions League spot. Twente plays at home to NAC this weekend, and will be in 2nd place with a win.

I have no idea what to say at this point. They could build monuments to this team's inconsistency. Before the winter break Ajax was in top form...Cvitanich was looking like an UPGRADE from KJH rather than just a replacement, and the signing of Rob Wielaert surely made Ajax's defence nearly impenetrable. Now? Ajax has to come from behind at home to secure one point against perennial whipping boy Heracles. Van Basten has to be frustrated, he just can't seem to get any team to play well and stay focused for more than 3 or 4 games at a time (Euro '08 anyone?). Is this a coaches fault? Damn right it is. There's absolutely no way you can chalk this kind of performance up to a great coaching job on the Heracles sideline or a great performance by that crappy team. Ajax just blew it. And they are about to blow their chance at Champions League football next year. Oh, and Fiorentina is going to murder us.

Ajax frustrated in Groningen

OK, first of all let me apologize for not writing anything recently. Living in DC during the Obama inauguration, and a period of freezing temperatures combined with general laziness and an awful internet connection has proved to be too much for me to write anything. I've been a bad Ajax fan and I admit it, I haven't seen a match in a long time, mostly b/c of said internet problems, but still inexcusable!

So Sunday's match was not a great one apparently. The red card party continued, even van Basten was sent off. I always like to see coaches getting fired up though. Ajax now sit 6 points behind AZ with a tough match at Heerenveen coming up on Saturday. AZ is stronger than a lot of people (including myself) expected them to be. After starting off the season with two questionable losses (3-0 to ADO?!?) , Louis van Gaal's boys stormed to the top of the standings and have not been beaten since. As nice as it is to see the wide open Eredivisie standings this year with PSV a full 15 points off the pace, everybody expected to see Ajax fill the void and play the way that AZ is playing right now. Saturday's match is a must-win, with AZ playing 13th place Sparta, an Ajax loss will most likely mean falling 9 points off the pace, which might as well be Mt. Everest at this point of the season. Not to mention a damn good team from Enschede that sits just one point back of Ajax!

Ajax sign Wielaert

Ajax and FC Twente have agreed to terms on the transfer of 30 year old Tukkers captain Rob Wielaert to the ArenA until at least June 2011. This is a great signing that will add even more stability and depth to a back line that has only given up 1 goal in the last 4 Eredivise matches and just now seems to be playing well. To me this exemplifies how Danny Blind is becoming one of the better talent managers in the Eredivisie. Blind has managed to pull together one hell of a lineup with enough depth at almost every level to overcome a myriad of injuries this year and stay near the top of the Eredivisie.
Its back to the Eredivisie grind for the boys this weekend after a few days in Portugal that included a 3-2 friendly loss to Stuttgart (that, according to more than one Ajax player would have been a win if not for numerous off-sides calls). Ajax gets the 2nd half of this years campaign kicked off in Nijmegen on Sunday...hopefully Wielaert's first match in an Ajax uniform?

Kanu rumour alive again?

Ok..ok..not the most credible source, but my news ticker picked up this story from African news website This Day:

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=132285

The "Kanu returning to his roots" transfer rumour has been floating around for years now, and never seems to get very far, but I did actually see this posted on a few other news sites as well, so maybe there is some merit to it? Sounds like a pretty cool deal to me, a tall striker (6' 5" to be exact) is always helpful, something that Ajax is clearly lacking right now.

Side Note: I watched the Liverpool FA Cup match this weekend and Ryan Babel looked AWFUL...the guy has zero confidence. The announcers were even making fun of him. Ryan, its time to move on...