Slow news day

By: bryan | October 23rd, 2007

I don’t mean to bore you, but….

First half highlights vs NEC:

And second:

Hmmm…pretty quiet on the Ajax news front lately, so in my best DuNord imitation, I’d like to point you in the direction of some interesting reads, some of which may or may not be totally recent. (BTW, DuNord is absolutely essential to read every weekday)

• Sky Sports is reporting that Urby Emanuelson wants to go to Roma, as early as this January. I’m not entirely convinced this would be a bad move for Ajax, seeing as he’d get around 5 million euros. However, I really feel that the Ajax Board of Directions needs a heave-ho for what they’ve done to the team. Getting 27-plus million for Wesley Schnijder was great business, but would have been even better had they not waited until August 27th to do it and left the team ridiculously short-handed. I’m a big Schnijder fan, but you don’t turn down that kind of money for most players - however, if you’re gonna do it, accept it earlier and do something to reinforce the team. By January, it might be too late. But I digress… anybody have any thoughts on Emanuelson leaving? He’s talented, certainly, but a liability on defense.

• Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated is without question the best American soccer (and college basketball) writer. He’s also a kick-ass dude. Before the US-Czech Republic game at the World Cup in Gelsenkirchen, he actually sat down and had lunch with us for over an hour. After the game, me and my friend ran into him on the train platform and we discussed the USA’s 3-0 loss on the ride to Muenster. He’s one of the few American soccer writers who “gets it,” in my opinion. At the end of today’s mailbag, he discusses how the Hope Solo situation has become the story over a bigger issue - the US women being completely passed by Germany and Brazil. I listened to the teleconference podcast where USSF president Sunil Gulati was asked by Wahl about this, and Gulati, typically, ducked the question. What Wahl said today was something that totally needed to be said, and I applaud him once again on it.

• One Champions League thought while watching on my lunch break - how exciting was DaMarcus Beasley after he entered the game for the final 20 minutes? He dispossessed Thierry Henry and started the break before Henry comically wasn’t called for bringing him down from behind, and Beas did a whole lot of good. Makes me wonder how he would fare as a substitute for the US, like Freddy Adu was last week vs. Switzerland. Guys like Beasley are killers for defenders with tired legs. Guys like Beasley are killers for teams that have to rely on Beasley’s touch for 90 minutes.