Fine 0-8 win at Bennekom concludes De Lutte training camp
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Pre-Season Friendly
Sportpark De Eikelhof, Bennekom
Saturday, 15 July,
2006
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"Thank you, goodbye and we'll see you next year!" - and
then, Ajax left the premises of Hotel De
Bloemenbeek, after what was the 33rd Ajax-1 training camp
in De Lutte since 1973. It's become a club tradition
to spend the second week of the pre-season campaign in the
friendly Twente town and, as usual, a lot
of hard, but satisfying work has been done. The new
players have become part of the 'family'
and Ajax have made a major leap towards
match-fitness. The Amsterdammers left De Lutte as a
team, as the last friendly of 'week 2', on the way to
Amsterdam, at VV Bennekom, made clear. Ajax played well
and gave the hosts (a Hoofdklasse outfit) a
spanking of 0-8.
"This was the best pre-season so far," said head-coach Henk
ten Cate after the game. "We chased them very well, our
forechecking was great and there was a tremendous tactical
discipline. We also scored some pretty goals. I think we're
headed in the right direction."
Newcomer Roger played well (and almost scored...) against
Bennekom. [Ajax.nl]
Indeed: slowly but certainly it is becoming clear how Henk
ten Cate wants Ajax to play. The Amsterdammers chased the
opposition agressively and - when in possession - put them
under great pressure immediately, passing the ball around
quickly and playing one-touch football whenever possible. Ajax
already seem to be a 'faster' team than last season and are
taken by the hand by some stylish, thoroughly entertaining
footballers. In Bennekom, Kenneth Perez, Edgar Manucharyan,
Roger and Tom De Mul played particularly well.
The latter opened the scoring in the 7th minute, when
Angelos Charisteas flicked a cross on to him. De Mul turned
quickly and fired home: 0-1. On the 25th minute mark defender
Jaap Stam scored his first pre-season goal for Ajax in trypical
fashion: by slamming his forehead against a Roger corner kick
with amazing force. Nine minutes later Angelos Charisteas once
again underscored the fact that he is having a fine campaign so
far, by calmly slotting home when he came face-to-face with
goalkeeper Dreef: 0-3 was the half-time score at Sportpark De
Eikelhof.
Mauro Rosales, who replaced Tom De Mul at half-time, was on
the pitch for only seven minutes when he netted Ajax's
fifth and goal number six was scored by Charisteas'
replacement, Rydell Poepon. Ten Cate replaced the young
striker against
HHC Hardenberg on Thursday, after he had nonchalantly
wasted a scoring opportunity. Against Bennekom, Poepon played
well and worked tremendously hard. It did not go unnoticed:
"Rydell picked up the thread in a fantastic way. He worked, he
battled; truly excellent. Sometimes you have to provoke a
player, but when he reacts this well, you have to tell him
that, too. I complimented him in the dressing-room in front of
everyone."
On-form this pre-season: Angelos Charisteas. [Ajax.nl]
Ajax shifted to a lower gear very briefly, halfway the
second half, but started scoring again when Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar (man, is that guy popular throughout the
country...) was brought on. The striker fired a
free-kick into the net (78') and remained cool as
usual when he had a one-on-one encounter with the
goalkeeper (80'). Another sub, Jeffrey Sarpong, scored
Ajax's last goal of the afternoon: 0-8. Fine result. It
could have been more, in fact, and there was
also good news from the 'injury front': Thomas
Vermaelen returned to action in the 68th minute. He recovered
much quicker than expected from the injury he
sustained in the Belgian national team this summer.
Henk ten Cate was a satisfied man, although the Ajax boss
did say that he had 'mixed feelings' about the training camp:
"It's been a good training camp, but Nicolae Mitea's injury
really tarnishes the week. I really feel sorry for the boy. He
fought so hard to return from his knee injury and he did
wonderfully well. I hope we'll have him back soon. He can
become a really important player for Ajax."
After that, it was time to drive back to Amsterdam, where
the 'World Cup gang' will join the team on Monday. That is:
Markus Rosenberg, Hedwiges Maduro, Maarten Stekelenburg, John
Heitinga, Ryan Babel and Wesley Sneijder will go back in
training. Zdenek Grygera joined the team yesterday and is
already in training. 'Week 2' has been concluded successfully.
'Week 3' will be the first with a complete squad. (MP)
Update 17 July: It appears that Ajax midfielder
Roger broke a toe of his left foot in the game against
Bennekom. This will keep the Spaniard sidelined for one or two
weeks (source: Ajax.nl).
Source: Ajax.nl
GOALS
- 07' 0-1 Tom De Mul
- 25' 0-2 Jaap Stam
- 34' 0-3 Angelos Charisteas
- 55' 0-4 Mauro Rosales
- 62' 0-5 Rydell Poepon
- 78' 0-6 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 80' 0-7 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 90' 0-8 Jeffrey Sarpong
Referee: unknown
Cards: none
Attendance: 4,500
Ajax line-up: Gentenaar; Boakye, Stam,
Vertonghen (68. Vermaelen), Emanuelson; Schilder, Manucharyan
(46. Lindenbergh), Roger (46. Sarpong); De Mul (68. Huntelaar),
Charisteas (46. Poepon), Perez (46. Rosales).
VV Bennekom line-up: Dreef;
Lücke (46. Wijnen), Van Meegdenburg (68. Hartman), Van
Essen (46. Van Rooijen [68. Splinter]), Römer (68.
Meijndershagen), Kaba (46. Van der Sommen), Heller, Nok, Oomen
(46. Lamers), Splinter (46. Hol), Meijndershagen (46.
Aikwawa).
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