25 May 2011: Portland Timbers - Ajax

[ajaxusa]

Wow, excellent list. Are any of these Under-21-friendly? I'll have my 12yo son...

[Blind3]

I always liked Dante's . Hot , dark , and sweaty. Like something straight out of John Milton. Didn't hurt that Mudhoney, Green River, Gas Huffer , Girl Trouble, and The Melvins were playing on the occasions I did " drive the 5 " to P Town. The Schnitz (Arlene Schnitzler Concert Hall) is a nice play with accoustics great enough to please Pearl Jam, Sleater Kinney and comedian david Cross. (July 20 '06).

[Blind3]

In the event folks heading to P Town match , but not D.C. (where I made near identical post):

Selectie voor oefentrip Amerika
Maarten Stekelenburg
Jeroen Verhoeven
Kenneth Vermeer
Gregory van der Wiel
Toby Alderweireld
Jan Vertonghen
Vurnon Anita
Eyong Enoh
Miralem Sulejmani
Siem de Jong
André Ooijer
Daley Blind
Nicolas Lodeiro
Demy de Zeeuw
Oleguer
Dario Cvitanich
Aras Özbiliz
Lorenzo Ebecilio

De geblesseerde Rasmus Lindgren (knie) en Mounir El Hamdaoui (hamstring) blijven in Amsterdam achter. Ook Christian Eriksen en Nicolai Boilesen zijn er niet bij. De twee Denen bereiden zich voor op het EK U-21 met Denemarken. Nicolas Lodeiro maakt alleen het eerste deel van de trip mee. Na de oefenwedstrijd tegen DC United vliegt hij terug naar Amsterdam. Enkele dagen later speelt hij met Uruguay een oefeninterland in en tegen Duitsland ter voorbereiding op de Copa America.

[AjaxPDX]

Wow, excellent list. Are any of these Under-21-friendly? I'll have my 12yo son...

I'm not 100% certain, but I'm pretty sure all are okay for underagers. And if you can't get in at one, the others are all within a couple blocks. I'll have my five month-old strapped to my chest for this match, and we'll probably stop in at the Goose Hollow for a pre-match pint.

[ajaxusa]

I'll have my five month-old strapped to my chest for this match...

I sure as hell hope you're talking about a child. ;-)

[ajaxcolombia]

Stekelnburg in the selection? Has he recovered completely form his injury or is this just a formality since he traveled witht eh team?

[Orange14]

Stekelnburg in the selection? Has he recovered completely form his injury or is this just a formality since he traveled witht eh team?

Formality; he is not playing. He did take part in a clinic for young players last Friday with some DC United and other Ajax players. Vermeer played the full 90 minutes yesterday. Don't know if Verhoeven will play against Portland or not.

[SPL]

I am off to Oxford , dreaming spires and all that in the morning until Friday evening so wont have the internet.

Just wanted to wish all of you who are going to the game a great time .

[PabloDiablo]

There is going to be a stream of this game available on http://www.PortlandTimbers.com.

[ajaxusa]

We will be at Bitter End and / or Marathon Taverna tonight, hopefully from around 5pm.

BTW, first few pics from Portland added to this collection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fireballs/ ... 671509645/

[Blind3]

Entertaining match. 0-1 to Ajax at half. Goal Ebecilio from Van der Wiel. Nice cross right to left. on 18 I think. Ajax lined out thusly : Pizza; Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Blind; Anita, De Jong, Enoh; Ozbiliz, Cvitanich, Ebecilio. Lots of possession Ajax. One or two chances , one off the line by Toby I think, for Portland. Not much for Pizza to do except handle back passes.

[ajaxusa]

Great atmosphere, crap game. I would buy season tickets for the Timbers if I lived in Portland. Great, great atmosphere, great fans.

[AjaxPDX]

My impressions…

Ajax used the game as a passing and possession training exercise. Portland couldn’t string more than 3-4 passes together without Ajax’s pressing and trapping getting the ball back, and then it seemed like Ajax’s biggest objective was: “okay, last time we strung together 24 passes in a row, let’s go for 25 this time.” They had to have had over 80% possession. To be honest, it kind of lulled me to sleep after a while, but if you wanted to see a lesson in controlling the tempo and flow of a game, there it was. Portland had a really nice flurry around the 60th minute when they grew some confidence, hit the crossbar on the open shot, etc., but other than that, it was almost like the Timbers weren’t even on the field.