29 Jul 2005: Ajax - Arsenal FC

[Kowalczyk]

Time for the Amsterdam Tournament!

On a sidenote... I'm always a bit annoyed by how Ajax are trying to make this friendly event more important than it is. When a player leaves Ajax, Ajax.nl will sum up his career in a news report, and they will always write something like: "he won the Dutch championships of 2002 and 2004 with Ajax, Amstel Cup of 2002 and three editions of the Amsterdam Tournament (2002, 2003, 2004)". Come on! As if winning the Amsterdam Tournament is a serious trophy! Gimme a break!

Or they write: "He had 98 appearances in the Eredivisie, 9 in the Amstel Cup, 12 in the Champions League and 4 at the Amsterdam Tournament. Apart from that, he played 21 friendly fixtures for Ajax." Let one thing be clear: the games at the Amsterdam Tourney are friendly fixtures and can in absolutely no way be compared to games in official KNVB or UEFA competition. They're friendlies. Period. Kickabouts. Training games.

Admittedly, they're the most prestigious friendlies of the pre-season campaign (large crowd, top opposition, large TV exposure) and - most importantly - it's always a nice event. But let's not lose our perspective. It's not the 'opening of the season' (Ajax.nl); it's the climax of pre-season (Ajax USA... :D ).

The most important thing for Ajax on Friday 29 July will not be the Arsenal game, but the draw for the third preliminary of the Champions League (same day, I believe at noon; can be followed live on UEFA.com). That is important stuff. The Amsterdam Tournament is just for fun (nothing wrong with that, though...).

Right. Had to get that off my chest. :hypocrite:

Anyway: Ajax vs Arsenal, Friday night... Your comments here please.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Prior to Ajax vs Arsenal fans and players will say goodbye to Rafaël van der Vaart, who will be at the game to thank the supporters! Nice one.

K.

[bluedaddy19]

Prior to Ajax vs Arsenal fans and players will say goodbye to Rafaël van der Vaart, who will be at the game to thank the supporters! Nice one.

K.

sara will love that... get ready for the tears :D

[Kowalczyk]

sara will love that... get ready for the tears :D

Thank God there's a trench around the pitch for drainage... ;)

I know it works and the water will flow away: we've all done quite a lot of crying at the ArenA in recent years.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Less than an hour and I'm leaving for the airport for the flight over to Amsterdam. Can't wait for Friday, my birthday, the CL draw and Ajax v Arsenal all in one day - Can't be bad, now if someone can just arrange for a 4-0 win to half compensate for the 0-4 last time I was at the Arena then that would be perfect.
:D

Amsterdam here I come!!!!!!!! :headbang:

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Friday's Arsenal game will be shown on many TV stations around the world, but if you're out of luck you can still watch Ajax vs Arsenal live on Arsenal.com!

Read this article.

K.

[ZoefdeHaas]

which channel in holland?

[bluedaddy19]

which channel in holland?

sbs6

[ZoefdeHaas]

thnx :xyxthumbs:

[Kowalczyk]

Ajax Netwerk reports that 40,000 tickets have been sold for Day 1. Which means that 10,000+ tickets are still available. The box offices will be open before kick-off on match day. A Club Card is not required.

K.

[gforce99]

Can anyone in the US record this match for me?

GOL TV
International Friendly AJAX-ARSENAL (live), 3 pm.

Please email me. Thanks.

[jakobg]

Check http://www.fbtz.com/forum/ some minutes after the final whistle and I'm sure you'll be able to find the game.

There always someone capturing the games and they are online very fast. All you need is some kind of torrent program. (I'm using BitComet, working fine.)

[gforce99]

Thanks but I am on a 56k, so torrent bits won't help me much.

[ajaxusa]

Back Ajax to clean up against Gunners
AJAX appeal at odds of 2-1 with VC Bet to draw on home support and beat Arsenal in the Amsterdam Tournament at the Amsterdam ArenA on Friday evening. The match kicks-off at 8.15pm and is being screened live on Sky.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 15,00.html

[vagegast]

Anyone know if the NOS (Langs de Lijn) is doing this match on the radio?

[ZoefdeHaas]

Ajax 0-1 Arsenal

[SE6Ajacied]

Boring Boring Boring......

Sadly these are my thoughts on the game - still, it was great to be back at the ArenA and always good to watch Ajax play I suppose.

No doubt Ko will surface later and give us one of his excellent match reports but judging when I saw him last I'd say it's still a bit early yet, just made it out of bed myself :bier: :bier: :bier: :D

[jakobg]

Didn't see the game, but from what I've read and heard, it ain't worth downloading.

Just saw the goal though, nice moves from Arsenal's new Hleb and a fine little pass as well, followed by a great finish from Italian Lupoli.

Looks like Ajax will have a hard time winning the trophy this year.

By the way, are the rules in the AT the same this year as well? One point for each scored goal?

[bluedaddy19]

Just saw the goal though, nice moves from Arsenal's new Hleb and a fine little pass as well, followed by a great finish from Italian Lupoli.

By the way, are the rules in the AT the same this year as well? One point for each scored goal?

1-more like heitinga went missing for a moment lol

2-yes

porto 5 pts
arsenal 4
AJAX, boca 0

[Kowalczyk]

No doubt Ko will surface later and give us one of his excellent match reports but judging when I saw him last I'd say it's still a bit early yet

So, here I am... I forgot a few things about last night... You will have to fill me on a few things tomorrow...

Anyway, match report is up:
http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m05-06/ ... l-0-1.html

K.

[ZoefdeHaas]

Fill you in:

1) Defence needs to organize

2) Lehmann needs a new outfit

3) Porto are fukin poofters

4) lets piss on Boca tmw

[ajaxgunner]

Fill you in:

1) Defence needs to organize

2) Lehmann needs a new outfit

3) Porto are fukin poofters

4) lets piss on Boca tmw

All in all, I don't think the defense did too badly, especially with Escude out. Arsenal were uncharacteristically caught offside several times. But only Babel stood out. Pienaar battled well, but Maduro, Sneijder, and de Jong were too anonymous. Rosenberg was disapppointing, and Charisteas made a difference when he came on. Mitea skinned the right back sub, Eboue, twice on the same play. I want to see de Ridder!

[The Purple Cow]

Dull game or what? Second half was particularly tedious.

- points:

I like Pienaar, but he is not now, nor will he ever be a winger.

De Jong was just not there at all.

Ditto Sneijder.

Rosenberg just doesn't get it, (yet).

Babel did quite well, though I'm not convinced that he is a winger.

Maduro isn't a convncing centre-back, though I like him at d-mid.


+ points

Unusualy solid looking Stekelenberg. There's hope yet.

Trabelsi, routinely solid

Ditto Grygera

Double ditto Galasek

Lindenberg looked good. Didn't over-complicate.

Subs all did well. Particularly impressed/amazed by Charisteas. It's amazing what a bit of competition will do.

[Kowalczyk]

Subs all did well. Particularly impressed/amazed by Charisteas. It's amazing what a bit of competition will do.

Yeah, I was thinking that, too... My God. He was... good.

As for Rosenberg: he had a poor game, but I've seen him play several good ones. He'll be alright. He has a few qualities that this squad lacked. He will be useful.

K.

[Philippe]

I agree with TPC : how could we play 4-3-3 with no real wingers ? The ones who could do this are Mitea, De Ridder, and maybe Boukhari. This was a very strange line-up.