Amstel Cup: Ajax up against Willem II in semi-final
03 March: Immediately after Thursday
night's fixtures in the quarter final of the Amstel Cup (PSV vs
TOP Oss 6-1, Feyenoord vs NAC Breda 4-0) the draw for the
semi-finals took place at De Kuip in Rotterdam. The
outcome: Feyenoord and PSV clash in De Kuip on Wednesday
20 April. The next day, Thursday 21 April, Ajax will
travel to Tilburg for their semi-final fixture at Willem II,
kick-off time 20:45 CET.
The traditional 'Big Three' of Dutch
football (Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV) were in the bowl
for the draw. That may sound like a 'normal' thing to the
average football fan, but it only happened three times before
in more than a century of Dutch cup history: in the
semis of 2003, 1999 and 1980, to be precise. It is the 29th
time for Ajax to make it to the last four. It
is PSV's 28th semi-final and
Feyenoord's 16th.
Ajax were the most fortunate of the
'Big Three'. Of course: opponents Willem II will not roll over
in front of their home crowd and with De Kuip 'in sight', but
they were undeniably the only remaining club in the
draw that normally doesn't finish in the top five of the
Eredivisie. Moreover, the away game at Willem II is
statistically one of the easiest for Ajax in the Eredivisie,
for what that's worth.
The Tilburg club,
however, does have a respectable history in the
Dutch cup. They played two finals (in 1944 and 1963)
and could lift the trophy (the KNVB Cup in those
years) on both occasions. Groene Ster ('Green Star') were
the opponents in Eindhoven in 1944 (final score: 9-2!). In 1963
ADO were beaten by the score of 3-0 at their own Zuiderpark
Stadium in The Hague.
Ajax and Willem II played each other
twice before in the history of the Dutch cup, which had its
first edition in 1899. Both games were in 1963 and both were
played in Tilburg: Willem II eliminated Ajax in the 'round of
sixteen' on 16 May (1-0 after extra time) and advanced to win
the cup of 1962-1963. Ajax had their revenge a few months
later, on 17 November of the same year, in the second
round of the 1963-1964 edition: 0-4.
There was one more cup
confrontation between the two clubs: Young Ajax, the Ajax
reserves team, took on Willem II in the 'round of 32' on
04
December 2002 and embarrassed the Eredivisie
professionals at the Amsterdam ArenA: 2-1.
If Ajax win in Tilburg on 21
April they will clash with either Feyenoord or
PSV in the final on 29 May in De Kuip. Two of the 'Big
Three' in the cup final? It did not happen as
frequently as some may think: only four times. The first
time was in June 1969: Feyenoord and PSV drew
1-1. Feyenoord won the replay three days later: 2-0. Ajax
and PSV played each other in two cup finals. The Amsterdammers
won both times: 2-0 in Den Bosch in May 1970 and a whopping 5-0
at De Kuip in May 1998. The only time the cup final was a
'Classic' was in May 1980: Feyenoord - Ajax 3-1. (MP)
Source: Amstel Cup.nl
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