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Match Report: Zlatan rules in Theole friendly


0 (0)		9 (3)
Theole, Tiel 11 July 2001

11 July: Initially it rained more water than goals this Tuesday evening, when the professionals of Ajax played the 3rd class amateurs of Theole. Only after 12 minutes Ajax scored its first goal, and at the end of the first half it was only 0-3. Fortunately for the 4,500 spectators Zlatan Ibrahimovic played all 90 minutes and he scored a few extra in the second half. But the Amsterdammers didn't make it into the double digits, ending the game at only 0-9.

Right from the start, a heavy rain fell on the crowd and players. And the few hundred Ajax supporters who travelled all the way to Tiel were soaked to the skin way before Ajax scored it's first goal. It was Zlatan who gave Van der Gun the opportunity to score, but his shot got blocked by the Theole goalkeeper. In the rebound however, Richard Knopper had more luck. Zlatan showed that he had listened carefully to Adriaanse's complaints after the previous game. Adriaanse had stated that Zlatan is a wonderful player but that it had been too often o solo mio, meaning that Zlatan had played too much for himself.

But although Zlatan played more as a team player this evening he again didn't forget to score either. Ajax 2nd, 3rd and 4th goal were all scored by the Swedish striker. The 4th was only in the second half. Adriaanse had changed the whole team and Zlatan was the only one who played also the second half. In the forward line he got company from Nicos Machlas. This combination turned out to work very well. Apart from the fifth goal (scored by Ikedia after a nice dribble) all goals in the second half were scored by either Machlas or Zlatan.

With nine goals out of 2 friendlies Zlatan proved in his first week that he can score very easy. Although he also showed that he can miss a ball enormously. Some of his shots went so extremely wide that the friendly neighbour who lived behind the Theole goal had to get the ball out of his garden several times. (BV)

GOALS

0-1 Knopper ´12
0-2 Zlatan ´17
0-3 Zlatan ´45
0-4 Zlatan ´50
0-5 Ikedia ´54
0-6 Zlatan ´67
0-7 Zlatan ´70
0-8 Machlas ´71
0-9 Machlas ´84

Line-up Ajax 1st half: Lobont, Vierklau, Winter, Bergdølmo, Maxwell, Knopper, Van der Gun, Witschge, Van der Meyde, Zlatan, Piqué

Line-up Ajax 2nd half: Grim, Cruz, Pasanen, Yakubu, De Cler, Galásek, Machlas, O'Brien, Ikedia, Zlatan, Wamberto