0923.html

1000th win in professional football brings Ajax to top of table

	Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates with Ahmed Hossam during the 3-0 win for the home side in Amsterdam. [source: ANP]

It was a Sunday as good as a Sunday can be: a beautiful, sunny autumn day in Amsterdam, 45 minutes of really good followed by 45 minutes of decent football, Ajax' 1000th win since the start of Dutch professional football in 1956 and - last, but not least - a jump to the top of the Eredivisie table. Special guests at the party were Frank Rijkaard and Aron Winter, now working for Sparta. Their club stumbled, 3-0.

Those were the major reasons for Ajax fans to be satisfied, but there was an additional number of minor ones, too. First of all, Mido's good performance and his first two official goals for Ajax. "I'm very happy with this", the Egyptian said. "When playing for a new club, I always seem to have a lot of trouble scoring my first goal." Mido, playing as a central strikers couple with Zlatan for the first time, found himself exactly on the right place to finish off two rebouncing balls in less than ten minutes time. The first time, it was a great Van der Meyde cross, headed against the post by Zlatan (17), shortly after that Sparta goalkeeper Kooiman was unable to control a furious Chivu shot (25).

Mido's goals made for a spectacularly early 3-0 lead. Ajax' first was already scored after 11 minutes, by Rafaël van der Vaart. The ease with which he scores one important goal after the other is one more thing for Ajax to be very satisfied about. The midfielder scored four goals in five games, and all of them were important: a late equalizer against Roda, late winners against Feyenoord and AZ and, this time, the opening goal against Sparta. 34 year-old Aron Winter made a defensive mistake, providing his 18 year-old former team-mate with the space to turn around inside the box and fire home.

More reasons to be happy? The system and formation - and the way it was executed. Co Adriaanse came up with a 4-4-2 alternative this time, which pretty much turned out to be a return to Ajax' good old 4-2-4, with Zlatan and Mido as a central duo, and Andy van der Meyde and Wamberto on the right and left wings, respectively. Playing in a 4-2-4 system, defensive errors seemed inevitable so far. That's why it was so good to see that the Ajax back-line remained aggressive, concentrated and remarkably solid for 90 minutes.

Another optimistic note: the Sparta game marked the return to Eredivisie action of no less than three players recovered from injuries: Andy van der Meyde, who played well, Tim de Cler, who was subbed in late and only drew attention by getting booked, and - yes, he's back - John O'Brien. The American was brought on for Wamberto and played decently. His return in the ArenA elicited "U-S-A! U-S-A!" yells from the ArenA stands.

Ajax showed less determination in the second half than in the fine first 45 minutes, although Mido should have added goals on two or three more occasions. Sparta was unable to show anything remotely threatening and, unfortunately, seems to be one of the Eredivisie's weakest sides once again. Naturally, Mido was voted 'Man Of The Match', a title which could have also been awarded to Ajax' impressive director, Cristian Chivu, the unbeatable Hatem Trabelsi or Wamberto, who never seems to run out of fuel.

Finally, to make this Sunday perfect, there was a good dose of warm Ajax nostalgia: the F-Side spent the large part of the final 25 minutes singing for Aron Winter, who was visibly moved and gratefully waved to the Ajax fans as the game was still going, as well as Frank Rijkaard. After the game, the Ajax eleven who just secured the 1000th professional victory, were joined by the legends who booked the very first one in 1956, including former Ajax and Holland coach Rinus Michels, legendary goalkeeper Eddy Pieters Graafland and of course the man who scored the first ever professional winner for Ajax, Loek den Edel.

Conclusion: Ajax' upcoming vacation to sunny Cyprus is well-deserved. (MP)

GOALS

• 11'  1-0  Rafaël van der Vaart
• 17'  2-0  Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam
• 25'  3-0  Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam

Referee: Van Dijk
Yellow cards: Goossen (Sparta), De Cler (Ajax).
Attendance: 32,388

Ajax line-up: Grim; Trabelsi, Bergdølmo, Chivu, Maxwell (69. De Cler); Van der Meyde, Yakubu, Van der Vaart, Wamberto (79. O'Brien); Mido, Zlatan (57. Knopper).

Sparta line-up: Kooiman; Elzinga, Van der Meer, Winter, Goossen; Bezzai, Zijm, Inia, Bouchiba (29. Nielsen); Boukhari, Koevermans.