Tough week begins with comfortable victory at SV De Lutte
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Pre-Season Friendly
Sportpark Stock-Akker, De Lutte
Monday, 14 July, 2003
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Monday night was an anniversary night in two different ways
in the village of De Lutte in the eastern Netherlands: firstly,
Ronald Koeman coached his 100th Ajax game, all friendlies and
one Young Ajax game included. Secondly, Ajax pitched its annual
pre-season camp in De Lutte for the 30th time since 1973. Ajax
was welcomed by a special anniversary sign standing in front of
Hotel De Bloemenbeek. To celebrate 30 years of friendly
co-operation, Ajax played local amateur side SV De Lutte for
the first time ever - and won by 0-10.
"The people over here do their best to satisfy us. The
pitch, for example, is well taken care of. This game is our way
to return the favour," said Ronald Koeman. But in spite of the
hospitality in the friendly the name 'De Lutte' probably sends
shivers down the spines of the Ajax players; during the De
Lutte training camp, training intensity is traditionally
increased. 'De Lutte' stands for running, running and yet more
running, and power training. The upcoming week will be a tough
one.
De Lutte training camp. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Much to Ronald Koeman's disappointment Victor Sikora and
John O'Brien had to stay behind in Amsterdam. Last year's
unlucky ones were expected to make a new start, but their
persistent injuries keep chasing them. A third unlucky one,
however, did make the trip to De Lutte: John Heitinga, who is
almost ready for a return to action and will probably see some
game action later this week. He remained on the bench against
SV De Lutte, just like goalkeeper Sander Boschker. His
colleagues Maarten Stekelenburg and Bogdan Lobont each played
45 minutes.
Topscorers of the day were Rafaël van der Vaart (twice
in the first half-hour), Nourdin Boukhari (his first couple of
goals this summer) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who added two in the
latter ten minutes of the second half. Just like last summer
the Swede - who will play under his family name Ibrahimovic
this season - is finding the net with remarkable ease in
pre-season. Just like against Blauw-Wit on Saturday, he scored
more goals than newcomer Wesley Sonck, who told the press he
has to get used to all the crosses coming from the flanks in
Ajax's 4-3-3 system.
It was also a good day for the duo that has to win a slot in
the Ajax-1 squad during the pre-season campaign: Anthony Obodai
and Cedric van der Gun. The first was one of two Ajacieden to
play the full game; the latter notched his second goal in two
games. One goal was not scored by an Ajacied, but by De Lutte
defender Rick Scholten, who fumbled the ball into his own net.
Highlight of the game, according to Ajax's official website,
Ajax.nl, was a stunning run on the goal-line by Zlatan
Ibrahimovic.
"Some players - Wamberto and Boukhari - for example are
playing for themselves too much," Koeman added. "They
frequently moved to the centre with the ball, so it got too
crowded in front of goal. If they had passed the ball around
more the score would probably have been higher. But well,
everyone wants to show nice things in games like these, so
sometimes you get in each other's way (…) Everyone gave
everything to make the score as high as possible and to win the
ball back as soon as possible. I am satisfied about that."
Ajax's next game is scheduled for Tuesday night, at Achilles
'12 in the town of Hengelo. The most important developments
regarding Ajax, meanwhile, do not take place in De Lutte, but
in Amsterdam and the French city of Rennes: Ajax's general
director Arie van Eijden confirmed on Monday that Ajax has
reached an agreement with defender Julien Escudé. Van
Eijden also said to have "good hopes" that Stade Rennes will
accept Ajax's second bid. Escudé is now generally
expected to join the squad this week, just like Nigerian
midfielder/winger Kalu Uche of Wisla Krakow. Van Eijden also
confirmed Ajax's interest in him. Tuesday's game will come to
soon for them, but perhaps their first game for Ajax will be
against the Koninklijke ('Royal') UD on Thursday, or DVS '33 on
Saturday. (MP)
Sources:Ajax.nl, ANP
GOALS
- 03' 0-1 Rafaël van der Vaart
- 25' 0-2 Rafaël van der Vaart
- 26' 0-3 Rick Scholten (own goal)
- 39' 0-4 Wesley Sonck
- 42' 0-5 Cedric van der Gun
- 59' 0-6 Nourdin Boukhari
- 62' 0-7 Wamberto
- 84' 0-8 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- 86' 0-9 Zlatan Ibrahimovic
- 89' 0-10 Nourdin Boukhari
Referee: Olde Olthof
Cards: none
Attendance: 4,000
Ajax line-up, first half: Stekelenburg;
Trabelsi, Bergdølmo, Yakubu, Maxwell; Obodai, Van der
Vaart, Sneijder; Pienaar, Sonck, Van der Gun.
Ajax line-up, second half: Lobont; DeJong,
Pasanen, Yakubu, Van Damme; Galásek, Litmanen, Obodai;
Wamberto, Ibrahimovic, Boukhari.
SV De Lutte line-up: R. Bosch (41. D. Olde
Riekerink [65. Kok]); G. Hampsink, R. Scholten, R. Hampsink
(46. Pross), Visschedijk (46. Giesling), Schasfoort (46.
Hesselink), Veendijk (71. Reinink), D. Scholten (46. R. Olde
Riekerink), Schreur (41. Tunderman), Van Leyenhorst (65. Weda),
S. Bosch.
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