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A very happy 101st birthday for Ajax

	Ajacied Shota Arveladze is pulled to the ground by Sparta's Rui Monteiro, earning a penalty which Arveladze converted himself (6-0). Silvan Inia looks on. [source: ANP]

18 March: Exactly one year ago, Ajax spoiled their centennial celebration with an uninspiring 0-1 home loss to FC Twente. Two days later, coach Jan Wouters got sacked. Ajax hasn't lost a home game ever since. Today, on their 101st birthday, they underscored this remarkable fact with an historic 9-0 victory over Sparta, an amazing game in which Georgian striker Shota Arveladze recalled the "Showtime" glory of past seasons by scoring four of Ajax' nine goals.

Wamberto opened the scoring after just nine minutes. Two minutes later the often criticized Andy Van der Meyde scored as he received the ball on a cross pass from the attacking Tim De Cler. The left sided defender showed once again how effective his rushes can be if the opponent gives him a lot of space.

Big Victories: Sunday's game was Ajax' biggest victory since December 8, 1985, when Ajax won in De Meer, also vs. Sparta, also 9-0. Marco van Basten scored 6 goals, and Louis van Gaal played for Sparta that day! The biggest victory however, in the history of the Eredivisie occurred 29 years ago. The Golden Ajax (with Cruijff, Swart and Keijzer) won on May 1972, 12-1 against Vitesse. On March 22, 1995, Ajax won 8-0, also against Sparta. When Ajax got a penalty, the crowd yelled for goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar. His fellow team mates let him take the penalty, but he failed. Coach Van Gaal was furious, perhaps because he still remember his defeat in 1985. This Sunday, the crowd yelled again for the goalie to take the penalty, but Fred Grim was wise enough, having been around to learn from Van der Sar's mistake.

De Cler got his own reward 15 minutes later when he scored a goal himself. It was his first ever Eredivisie goal, and Ajax' fourth of the day. Just three minutes earlier, Cedric Van der Gun had scored the third.

When Shota Arveladze scored the fifth in the 39th minute, each of the Ajax goals had been netted by five different players. This is indicative of the way Ajax has been playing. Their league-leading 69 goals, which outpaces both PSV and Feyenoord by 15, have been scored by no less than 16 different players. And the club's topscorer has only scored 12 goals so far, a humble eighth place on the Eredivisie topscorers list. Indicative of this team spirit, the entire Ajax squad was voted man of the match this Sunday.

A nice gesture, but the real man of the match was of course Shota Arveladze. After he scored the fifth right before the break, it was Shota-time in the second half, as he went on to score Ajax' 6th, 8th and 9th goals of the day.

His first one of the second half was just a penalty (although Dutch players are not entitled to call these "easy" anymore, due to their persistent and famous failures from the penalty spot). His second was a nice slalom around Kooistra after a good pass from Van der Gun. But the last one was of such beauty that everything that is called Ajax hopes this marks the real return of the Shota Arveladze of his early days.

At the end of the penalty box, Arveladze put himself (after a few cunning feints) free to score hard and precise with his left foot, taking Kooistra completely out of the play. In the midst of this Shota-time spectacle, Van der Gun scored the seventh, a tip-in after a great action on the side line by Van der Meyde.

The lopsided affair brings to an end the impressive run of new coach Willem van Hanegem. This was his first defeat since taking over the club earlier this year.

In a game where offense hogged the limelight, there was also very encouraging play from the young Ghanaian Abubakari Yakubu. The 20-year old central defender started in place of the injured Cristian Chivu, and continued the fine form he showed against Groningen the week before. In addition to shoring up the beleaguered Ajax defense, Yakubu fed the Ajax attack with a steady diet of long, dangerous passes.

The visitors ended the match with ten men after Nordin Boukhari was sent off in the 77th minute following a second booking for an ill-advised intentional hand-ball. (BV/JM)

GOALS

• 09'  1-0  Wamberto
• 10'  2-0  Andy van der Meyde
• 24'  3-0  Cedric van der Gun
• 27'  4-0  Tim de Cler
• 39'  5-0  Shota Arveladze
• 48'  6-0  Shota Arveladze
• 59'  7-0  Cedric van der Gun
• 66'  8-0  Shota Arveladze
• 86'  9-0  Shota Arveladze

Referee: Van Hulten
Yellow cards: Rudge, Mendes da Silva, Van der Meer, Boukhari, Langerak (Sparta)
Red card: Boukhari (Sparta, double yellow)
Attendance: 38,987

Ajax line-up: Grim; Vierklau, Pasanen, Yakubu, de Cler; Galásek, van der Vaart, Arveladze; van der Meyde, van der Gun (82 Hersi), Wamberto.

Sparta line-up: Kooiman; Monteiro, Rudge, Mendes da Silva, v.d. Meer, Nieuwenburg, Nielsen, Inia (76 Zijm), Boukhari, Elkhattabi, Langerak.