Entry of:17-10-99
Ajax this week:
After all clubs played their ninth game Ajax started on sundayevening away against NEC. The game was not as sparkling and fresh as the game against Fortuna S, but a win nevertheless. Defender O'Brien opened the score in the 33th minute, walking through the defense of NEC, but at that moment the teams were equal and that equality seemed to come out after de Gier had a great lob, but it went on the crossbar, on the inside of the post and it hit the goalline but it did not went in, so a 1-0 lead for Ajax at halftime. After the pause Renfurm gave NEC a well deserved goal in the 53th minute, 1-1. It was a poor mistake in the defense from de Cler and Grim was without a chance. Ajax settled things however. First Machlas could score his 4th goal with a penalty in the 55th minute after Wamberto was tackled. In the 72nd minute Ajax put the final score on the board.Who else but Knopper could have been repsonsible for that? He scored subtile in the rebound.That gave a 3-1 victory in the away match in Nijmegen, and it was needed cause PSV showed its power with 7-0 earlier that afternoon. In the 74th minute it finally was the moment when Gronkjaer made his comeback. He had been injured ever since the match of the Johan Cruyffschaal.Ajax is getting stronger with him, and even Grim seemed good this evening so PSV can't weaken cause Ajax is looking damn sharp.Bring on the next prey!!!
Ajax next week:And that next prey is Den Bosch. And what a prey that is. At home Ajax will be able to make crumbs of den Bosch next sunday. The word walk-over is appropriate. Today Den Bosch lost 7-0 in Eindhoven at PSV, the task for Ajax is to show that it can defeat that amateur club with the same or even a bigger score.
Note for Ajax: 7
Rest of the competition:
Never start with the dessert my mom always said, but the dessert was allready served on me on Friday. Roda JC took care of the shaky team of Feyenoord. The defending champion(a title that every week seems more unbelievable) had no chance and lost deserved 2-1 at the stadium of
Roda JC.They are strong in 3rd place now and Feyenoord is 8th after this weekend. No more champions in Rotterdam now. PSV showed its superiority, with a 7-0 home victory over little lamb Den Bosch. Van Nistelrooy,Nilis and Bruggink scored twice. Ajax will have tough time keeping up with this superb opponent. Willem II stayed on track but with poor play against RKC with a 2-1 home victory, and are now with the same amount of points as Roda JC. Vitesse(2-1 home against Cambuur L) and Heerenveen(0-1 away at Fortuna S) both had their wins to get them back up the table. Vitesse in 9th place, Heerenveen in 7th. AZ also won with big scores at Sparta 3-6 and take 6th place behind FC Twente who drawed poorly in Doetinchem with a 0-0 against de Graafschap. Going down and fast fast fast is FC Utrecht, loosing again in the away match against MVV 4-1, and I never seen a team play such poor soccer..It was horrible, so no subtop for FC Utrecht this year. PSV and Ajax are well in lead now, with PSV showing a lot of confidence, a topscorer with 15 goals and 40 goals in total...All that in 8 games. And that is gonna be the challenge Ajax has to face.Hopefully succesfull
Note Competition this week: 7
Moment of the week:
For the true soccerfan it is a real treat that Gronkjaer is back in business. Ajax will gain a lot of strength when this guy is fully fit again. Knopper obviously plans to score each game Ajax plays cause that guy looks more confident than ever. Feyenoords loss is a moment, but not something surprising anymore, I get used to it by now. Bad moment of the week is most definitely the growing amount of times that referees are abused during the game. This week it was more than once and one game(Sparta-AZ) had to be stopped for 10 min. Not a very charming side of the loosing supporter. So as long as Ajax will keep winning we dont have to fear that kind of barbarism in the Ajax-army.
==Willem ter Haar==
(Fantasizes again about Gronkjaers superb technique. HAIL KNOPPER!))
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