Maarten Stekelenburg is Ajacied #101 in Oranje
07 September: Just over five months after Nigel de Jong
became the 100th Ajacied to make his début for
the Dutch national team, the 101st framed
picture was added to the famous gallery of 'Oranje
Ajacieden' at the Amsterdam ArenA this weekend. Goalkeeper
Maarten Stekelenburg made his Holland début in the
second half of the Friday 03 September friendly against
Liechtenstein in Utrecht. As you would expect against one of
Europe's tiniest countries Stekelenburg remained upright with
ease: 3-0.
The Liechtenstein friendly was the last testcase before the
first 'real' match of Holland coaches Marco van Basten and John
van 't Schip, the 08 September World Cup qualifier against
the Czech Republic. Utrecht's Galgenwaard
stadium could have held the entire population of
Liechtenstein, a miniature nation on the border of Switzerland
and Austria. The Dutch goalkeepers were generally expected to
have an extremely quiet evening agains the country's national
team - and they had: Edwin van der Sar had to save once in the
first half. The only action for Stekelenburg, who made his
début in the second half, was the
occasional backpass by a team-mate, all of
which Stekelenburg accurately passed on. "Maarten did
well," Van Basten said after the game,
before adding with a smile: "He kept a clean sheet,
so..."
Stekelenburg's fellow Ajacieden Wesley Sneijder (90 minutes)
and Rafaël van der Vaart (second half) also saw action.
The Ajax goalkeeper was not the only 'first-timer': defender
Khalid Boulahrouz, who moved from RKC Waalwijk to
Germany's HSV Hamburg this week, NEC forward Romano Denneboom
and Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt also made their début
for Holland. Goals were scored by PSV's Mark van Bommel (1-0),
his team-mate André Ooijer (2-0) and AZ midfielder Denny
Landzaat (3-0).
The tall Ajax goalkeeper was happy to have made his
début ("no-one can take that away from me anymore!"),
but was - like many others - annoyed by the behaviour of some
of the 15,000 spectators. The Ajacieden playing for Holland
were constantly booed and jeered at by the fanatical FC Utrecht
supporters on the stands. Stekelenburg: "I was told that the
entire Bunnik Side [hard core of Utrecht fans, ed.] was there.
I can understand it if they yell stuff when we play here with
Ajax. But this time we were playing for Holland. Rafaël,
Wesley and myself were whistled at. It already started during
the national anthems. I did not expect that and I think it's a
disgrace, really. But apparently it's all part of the deal,
nowadays." (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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