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NEWS
Match Report: Young Ajax wins
historic Amstel Cup semi final slot
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Amstel Cup Quarter
Final
Amsterdam Arena
Thursday, 07 February, 2002 |
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Young Ajax added an extra glorious
chapter to their historic Amstel Cup fairy-tale last night,
during the second Amstel Cup 'double header' at the ArenA.
Coach Jan Olde Riekerink's bunch outclassed First Division side
Stormvogels Telstar from the twin-town of Velsen/IJmuiden with
a 3-0 victory, pulling into the semi-finals of the Amstel Cup.
It is the first time since the introduction of professional
soccer that a second team of a club has reached this stage of
the tournament. "We didn't even play that great", success coach
Olde Riekerink stated afterwards. "We played better against FC
Twente."
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| Young Ajax celebrates after another
historic Amstel Cup triumph. [Photo: Gerard van
Hees/Ajax.nl] |
A slightly too modest statement, and
also a somewhat painful remark towards opponents Telstar, who
could hardly create any danger in the Ajax defense. In the
first ten minutes they tried to use their physical power to
overwhelm the Ajax youngsters, but found out that this strategy
was not very successful. Young Ajax 'let the ball do the work'
and tried to avoid physical contact as much as possible. The
fine way in which the Amsterdammers executed their combination
play, left Telstar with no choice than to chase the ball. Soon
Telstar had to let go their offensive tactics, as they were
pushed further back in their own defense for almost the entire
game.
It was Young Ajax whoo ruled the
pitch, creating the best chances of the first half. First it
was Ghanese midfielder, Anthony Obodai, who entered the penalty
box and was apparently fouled for a likely penalty. But referee
Koopman didn't see it that way. Obodai had another great
scoring chance after a beautiful pass from his countryman
Abubakari Yakubu, but saw his attempt stifle in the Telstar
defense.
Along with Yakubu, Cedric van der Gun
was the only player from the A-squad to played for Young Ajax
on this night. The rest were all youngsters, with almost no
professional experience, who dream of reaching the top. This
makes the achievement so spectacular. Even Johnny Heitinga, the
17-year old youngster who still was a member of the Young Ajax
squad at the start of their Amstel Cup campaign, did not play
for Young Ajax tonight. Heitinga is now an Ajax-1 player, but
fell between two chairs: he did not get to play for Ajax-1
either and found himself on the bench all night.
The first Telstar chance wasn't
created by Telstar themselves, but was the result of a mistake
from the Ajax defense. Jose Valencia accidentally handed the
ball on a silver platter to Holwijn, who had a huge chance to
score the 0-1, but he fired the ball straight into the hands of
goalie Maarten Stekelenburg.
After half time Young Ajax increased
the pressure even further, with Van der Gun now playing as a
striker in an attempt to score early in the second half.
Already in the third minute this seemed to be succesful. With a
beautiful move Van der Gun delivered the ball to Stefano
Seedorf who came face-to-face with goal keeper De Vries.
Instead of finishing calmly, Clarence Seedorf's cousin wildly
fired the ball into the stands. This was the only mistake
Seedorf made: he played an excellent match. He's physically
very strong, but high skilled as well. He used those powers
superbly later on, scoring Ajax' third goal of the evening. No
Telstar player could steal the ball from his foot as Seedorf
rushed to the goal, through the heart of Telstar's defense.
This was just after Jason Culina and
Steven Pienaar had secured the victory with two goals in quick
succession. After one hour of football it was the Australian
who showed Young Ajax the way, just like he did with his
unforgettable strike in the previous Amstel Cup round against
FC Twente. After a free kick he coincidentally got the ball in
a free position and didn't hesitate: 1-0. Only six minutes
later it was the unrivalled star of the evening, Steven
Pienaar, who beautifully made it 2-0, perfectly controlling a
Seedorf cross pass and firing in the lower corner, leaving
goalkeeper De Vries no chance.
An impressive three goal knock-out
within ten minutes' time, but nevertheless, Young Ajax should
have gone a goal down in the 55th minute, as striker Ten Heuvel
took advantage of irresolute defending by Yakubu - and scored.
Referee Koopmans disallowed the goal for unknown reasons.
Also, the First Division team could
have equalized directly after Young Ajax' first, as substitute
Stuy came face to face with Stekelenburg and should have
scored. But the Young Ajax goalie, who has recovered from an
injury remarkably quickly, saved in a way that was reminiscent
of Edwin van der Sar. If Stekelenburg looked a bit nervous in
the previous game against FC Twente, he now played excellently,
with an aura of confidence and flair.
Coach Olde Riekerink, who was once
eliminated by Ajax-2 in the late 1980s as a player of Sparta,
was - understandably - satisfied after the game: "Of course,
this is unique. We achieved our goals. We wanted to entertain
the crowd and show them how well we can play, although I have
to admit that the first half wasn't that good." More than for
himself, the coach was happy for his boys, who were
collectively voted 'Men Of The Match' by the ArenA crowd, that
has embraced Young Ajax as its new heroes.
Olde Riekerink: "The most beautiful
thing of the evening was to see the crowd going mad during the
boys' lap of honour. This is so important for them and their
careers." And of course for Ajax as a club. Directly after
Young Ajax' triumph, a second semi final slot was won by the
first team... (BV)
GOALS
- 60' 1-0 Jason Culina
- 66' 2-0 Steven Pienaar
- 69' 3-0 Stefano Seedorf
Referee: Koopman
Yellow cards: Brunswijk, Tevreden, De Vries
(Stormvogels Telstar)
Attendance: 28,377
Young Ajax line-up:
Stekelenburg; Mofokeng,Yakubu, Walker,Valencia; Obodai, Pienaar
(74. Rafaël), Seedorf; Van der Gun (86. Bechan), Quansah
(46. Sneijder), Culina.
Stormvogels Telstar line-up:
De Vries; Tevreden (71. Ilo), Schenkel, Van Heulen, Brunswijk;
De Lange, Holwijn (49. Stuy), Inia; Ten Heuvel, Oostrom (88.
Lettinga), Van den Herik.
Results of Amstel
Cup Quarter Finals
- FC Utrecht vs SC Heerenveen 3-1
- PSV vs Feyenoord 1-1 (PSV advances after penalty
shoot-out)
- Young Ajax vs Stormvogels Telstar 3-0
- Ajax vs FC Groningen 4-0
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