First Friendly
By: Matt | July 20th, 2008
The squad went through its paces against opposition for the first time today, besting VV Noordwijk 5-2. All things were even at the half, but Ajax was not finished after 2 goals. Noordwijk was. More on the match and a brief preseason preview after the jump.
It was a guy whose position at the club is somewhat in flux now that Aissati is certainly Ajacied who opened the scoring. Jeff Sarpong put Ajax in front at 14′, but Noordwijk leveled within a minute. Leonardo made a case for a decent transfer only a few minutes later:2-1 Ajax after 20 minutes. But the amateurs were not outdone yet, drawing level just before halftime. Second half goals from Luque, Jan Arie van der Heijden and Luis Suarez made the final perhaps a bit flattering after an entertaining first half. The lineups looked like this:
1st half- Gentenaar; Colin, Vd Wiel, Vertonghen, Emanuelson; Kennedy, Perez, Sarpong, Schilder; Rommedahl, Leonardo.
2nd half- Gentenaar; Ogararu, Vermaelen, Vd Heijden, Slijngard; Delorge, De Jong, Anita; Suarez, Cvitanich, Luque.
I cannot make out what formation he was probably using. It looks like Vertonghen was a center back in the first half, and I have no idea what the shape was in the second. Anybody see anything?
Here is a brief rundown of the friendly matches coming up:
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.)
Friday 1 August: Cardiff City - Ajax (Cardiff, TBA)
Sunday 3 August: Sunderland - Ajax (Sunderland, 3.30 p.m. local time)
Friday 8 August: Amsterdam Tournament v. Arsenal
Saturday 9 August: Amsterdam Tournament v. Inter
Sunday 17 August: Real Murcia - Ajax (Murcia, time to be confirmed)
> In other news, Danny Blind is reportedly in Barcelona today trying to finalize a deal for Spanish defender Oleguer and/or get the loan deal for Henrique settled. This would be a double whammy that would certainly stabilize the backline. At 28, Oleguer still has some mileage left, and while he is probably not good enough for Barcelona, he would be a big help to our defense right now. Veteran Spaniards have been hit and miss at Ajax for various reasons. For every Gabri there is a Roger and a Urzaiz. Roger could not stay healthy and Urzaiz could not stay young. Oleguer would only have one of those problems to worry about. As long as he does not catch whatever is afflicting Vermaelen, he should be fine. As for Henrique, I am sticking to my earlier line. We are no feeder club, and unless there is a strong clause in the loan deal for Ajax to purchase, we should move on. If we can get Oleguer, we can do better than Henrique to join him.
Category: Team News
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Comments
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VV Noordwijk have an interesting logo!
Posted from
United States
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I’m not a fan of either of the Barca defender transfers. Henrique for the reasons you point out… Ajax shouldn’t be a feeder club, and I hate the idea of only having him on loan. Booooo. And as for Oleguer, he may be an okay player, but he’s also 28, coming from a massive club, and on a huge wage. Here’s an idea: instead of snatching up high salaried, mid career, cast offs from the big clubs, why not scout a younger, high potential, up-and-comer defender from a smaller club? Ajax is supposed to be legendary in their scouting and player development, after all, yet this type of move just strikes of laziness and indifference. Blah.
In other defender transfer news… Khalid went to Stuttgart today.
Posted from
United States -
Yes, i’m not convinced that Ajax could not scout a younger defender from somewhere else. To me getting a player on loan sucks big time … unless he’s really that good …
Posted from
United States -
I like the Oleguer idea…we need some veteran leadership on that back line. And as far as Ajax being a feeder club…not that this makes them one in my opinion, but I think the new management knows that Ajax isn’t the team it used to be and needs to start thinking differently about how to be competitive. If the kid is good, bring him on.
Posted from
United States -
Oleguer, si. Henrique, no.
Posted from
United States
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