Gatorade Cup: Ajax face Roda JC in semi-final
02 February: Immediately after having decided
Heerenveen vs Ajax with a goal (0-2) and an assist (0-3 by
Emanuelson) Klaas-Jan Huntelaar rushed to the SBS6
studio for the draw for the semi-finals of the Gatorade
Cup. The Ajax striker had a very lucky hand: first he
picked Ajax out of the bowl and then... Roda JC. The other
semi-final is PSV vs AZ.
Ajax vs Roda JC will be played on Wednesday 22 March,
kick-off 21:00 CET. This unusually late kick-off time is due to
the fact that PSV vs AZ will be played at 19:00 CET on the same
evening. This will make it possible for SBS6 television
to broadcast both semi-final fixtures live and in their
entirety.
The fact that Klaas-Jan Huntelaar picked his own team out of
the bowl first, has another advantage: if Ajax make it to the
cup final in Rotterdam's De Kuip the Amsterdammers will
officially be the home side in the final, which means they will
be allowed in their red and white home uniforms.
Unlike Ajax's, Roda's Gatorade Cup campaign started in the
first round of the competition. The Kerkrade team eliminated
amateur outfit SV Triborgh in the first round (0-5),
Hoofdklasse amateurs Rijnsburgse Boys in the second
(4-0) and First Division side Go Ahead Eagles in the third
(0-1). In the 'round of sixteen' Feyenoord came to Kerkrade's
Parkstad Limburg Stadium - and fell to the yellow and black
hosts: 1-0. On 31 January, Roda played an away game at
First Division side Helmond Sport in the quarter final and
won relatively easily: 0-2.
It is the 11th time that the two sides clash
in the Dutch competition. Out of the previous ten
times Ajax advanced eight times. Roda knocked Ajax out of the
competition twice. Ajax played several cup games
against Roda (who won the trophy in 1997 and 2000) in fairly
recent years, most recently at the Amsterdam ArenA in the
'round of sixteen' on 05 February 2003. In front of
only 15,000 spectators Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the only goal
of the game. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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