Back on top

Ajax is back on top of the league after a 4-2 win over Roda JC at home on Sunday. Klaas-Huntelaar scored his 11th goal of the season (!) in the 22nd minute off a George Ogararu cross. Luis Suarez, Albert Luque and Dennis Rommedahl also scored for Ajax. Huntelaar missed a penalty in the 80th minute that would have made it 4-2, but Rommedahl added the fourth in injury time. It was supposedly quite an entertaining game.

Ajax is tied with Feyenoord at the top with 24 points, but Ajax has a better goal diferential, and as we all know, those things matter. PSV is right behind the leaders with 23 points, and lost its first league game of the season, 2-1 at Heerenveen.

Adrie Koster has definitely brought some young players to the fold for Ajax, with players like Siem de Jong and Gregory van der Wiel getting run in the squad. Add to that the influence of Robbert Schilder and Jan Vertonghen and mainstays Hedwiges Maduro, Johnny Heitinga and Maarten Stekelenburg in goal (and obviously JKH), and there’s an actual river of young talent in the squad. Guys like Luque, Ogararu and Rommedahl add a needed veteran presence. It’s not the days of Seedorf, Kluivert, Davids & Co., but it’s encouraging that Ajax is playing the kind of football they’re known for, in a way they became famous for.

That will certainly be put to the test next week for ‘The Classic’ against Feyenoord.

Finally, sorry to take you off-topic, but I finished writing a story on the new chief scout at Chelsea, Michael Enemalo. He was recently hired by Avram Grant, his former manager at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. Emenalo is a great guy and he has been criticized for being hired from a local club in Tucson, AZ, but his credentials speak for themselves. Unfortunately there wasn’t nearly enough space to put everything about him in the story. For instance, he was also a player-agent helping African players get put into positive situations in soccer rather than being taken advantage of. He recommended Freddie Kanoute to Sevilla when he was sitting the bench at Tottenham and he became #2 top scorer in Spain last year - the guy knows what he’s doing. Anyway, I’d love for you to check out the story and let me know what you think. The link is here for your convenience.

Category: Team News

Tags: Ajax Amsterdam, Ajax-Roda, Michael Emenalo, Team News

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