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Young Ajax beat De Graafschap in Amstel Cup
23 October: The Ajax reserves accomplished something quite
unique this evening by beating De Graafschap in their third
round of the Amstel Cup. At their home ground of De Toekomst,
they beat the tenth place club of the Eredivisie 2-0.
Young Ajax now advances to the round of sixteen in the
competition.
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| Kiran Bechan battles De Graafschap
player for ball. [Photo: Louis van de
Vuurst / Ajax.nl] |
The first chance of the evening was created by De
Graafschap, as Meerdink was able to fire at Ajax goalie
Stekelenburg, but his shot went meters wide. A few minutes
later Steven Pienaar created the first chance for Young Ajax,
but his attempt also missed the target. Surprisingly it was
Young Ajax that took the lead. Kiran Bechan was fouled in the
penalty box and the Brazilian Walker didn't make a mistake,
scoring the 1-0 from the spot (37').
Surprising indeed, because this Young Ajax only played with
their 'own' young players and didn't use any Ajax-1 player for
this match - which would have been allowed. With players like
Mofokeng, Kras, Walker, Valencia and Obodai this team sounds
pretty inexperienced and new. Yet they have done extremely well
in this Amstel Cup so far. In the first two rounds they had
beat first division clubs Volendam (2-3) and Haarlem (4-0). And
now it was the top-flight club De Graafschap who were incapable
of beating them.
 |
| Tim de Cler, Johnny Heitinga and Rafael
van der Vaart watch Tuesday's match from balcony of De
Toekomst bar. [Photo: Louis van de Vuurst / Ajax.nl] |
This must have frustrated the De Graafschap players, many of
whom are former Ajax players. The frustration of De Graafschap
resulted in several fouls which finally cost Fränkel a red
card in the 75th minute. By that time, everyone at De Toekomst
could sense that something special was going on. To make it
even better, youngster Nando Rafael secured the victory by
scoring in the last minute of the game.
Young Ajax now reaches the round of the last sixteen in
which they can meet top clubs like Feyenoord, PSV or even
Ajax-1, who are joining the Amstel Cup in this round for the
first time. The next round will be played on 11, 12 and 13
December. (BV)
Goals
- 37' 1-0 Walker (pen)
- 90' 2-0 Nando Rafael
Referee: Vink
Red Card: Fränkel (2x yello)
Yellow Card: Meerdink (De Graafschap), Obodai (Ajax)
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg, Mofokeng, Kras, Walker,
Valencia, Obodai, Bechan (67. Culina) Seedorf, Quansah (86.
Rafael), Pienaar, Piqué
De Graafschap line-up: Postma, Berck Beelenkamp, Vreman
(75. Nok), Fränkel, Valeev, Meerdink (75. Bakens), Van
Leerdam, Schulp, Van Vossen, Turpijn (82. Promes)
(Source: ajax.nl)
