Thank you Sjakie!
Thank you for your 28 years of great service to Amsterdamsche Footh-Ball Club Ajax Amsterdam.
Sjaak Wolfs, you will forever be remembered by us, the Ajax’s fans.
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Author: Hafiz Noor Shams
For more about me, please read this.
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[203] Of 2003 Merdeka Day
Have a good Merdeka Day to all Malaysians out there and those impacted by it. May you realize the meaning of independence while you are embracing consumerism as your religion.”Freedom is slavery”
– 1984, George Orwell.
p/s – A short but meaningful post about Merdaka.
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[202] Of Ajax get into Group H
And so, Ajax Amsterdam has been drawn into Group H. The other members of the group are the defending champion and Ajax’s conquerer in last year quarterfinal – AC Milan of Italy, Mido’s team when he was loaned out, Celta Vigo of Spain and lastly the team that defeated Borussia Dortmund, Club Brugge.
Personally, I would like to have Bayern Munich instead of Milan but I guess some traditions, like the Ajax – Milan affair dies hard.
Overall, I think it is a good draw for Ajax though seeing AC Milan again is not really what most Ajacied had in mind. Apart from that, the good news is, on paper Ajax could somewhat dominate both Celta and Brugge. Nevertheless, recent Ajax’s performance was not very convincing.
Against AK Grazer of Austria, Ajax had a really rough time. The only reason that made a Dutch victory possible was luck and time. The first leg for the qualifying match was terribly poor by Champions League’s standard and it ended with a 1 – 1 game. Ajax goal was scored in the last possible minute after struggling to contain the Austrian. The return match also ended with the same score line. Ajax only managed to get through to the group stage by the silver goal rule, after two of Grazer’s players were sent off the field.
In the Eredivisie, although Ajax won two of its first matches and currently sitting on top of the table, their wins are not convincing. Even Ronald Koeman admitted that Ajax needs to improve itself soon or risk seeing 1999/00 season repeating itself.
Though recent performance is in doubt, Ajax this year is boasted a large income due to its Champions League success last year and the sell of Chivu, Mido and van de Meyde to Roma, Marseille and Inter Milan respectively. With those resources, new promising players were brought in. They are the Frenchman Julien Escude from Rennes (last year, he came to the attention of Alex Ferguson. Manchester United almost bought him. So far, he has performed well as Chivu replacement; French International), Tom Soertaers from Roda JC (he had a good one last season in the Eredivisie), Wesley Sonck from RKC Genk (last year Belgian Golden Boot winner; Belgian international), Zdenek Grygera – a young midfielder from Sparta Prague, Anthony Obodai from Antwerp and Sander Boschker from FC Twente. And reportedly, the Nigerian International Kalou Uche will be joining Ajax soon from Polish side Wisla Krakov.
I am convinced that Ajax will improve because the main reason Ajax is not performing well is that there are so many Ajacied that are injured. A few of them are Hatem Trabelsi of who attracted Manchester United interest earlier, the captain Jari Litmanen and the American International John O’Brien.
With Litmanen out of the field, Koeman is appointing van der Vaart as the captain but sincerely, though van der Vaart is a great footballer, he has little charisma when compared to Chivu or Litmanen.
Though Ajax’s defense is quite remarkable with the presence of Grygera and especially Escude, it will be better when Trabelsi joins his team mates on the field.
In the midfield of which Ajax’s having problem right now, Ajax will only return to its normal performance once both Litmanen and the reliable O’Brien return. Furthermore, Litmanen will be able to provide more depth to the team with his experience. Once that’s done, Ajax’s scoring machines – Ibrahimovic, van der Vaart and Sonck will be able to bring the opponent’s wall down to earth.
But till then, Hup Ajax Hup!
p/s – Ajax has finally reclaimed Chivu from Roma officially. Chivu, Ajax’s former captain was sold to Roma for 15 000 000 euros with a down payment of 3 000 000 euros. Roma however is unable to get a bank guarantee for the purchase. As a result, Ajax will not get the promised sum; fortunately, Ajax’s profit last financial year is considerable huge and thus, Ajax will not be hurt with the lose future income. Again, fortunately for Ajax and unfortunately for Roma, Ajax gets to keep the downpayment.
It is reported that Ajax is however looking for other buyers – one of the said interested clubs is Real Madrid. Ajax needs to find a replacement buyer for Chivu before the Dutch transfer deadline, which happens to be this Sunday.
Personally, I would prefer Ajax to keep Chivu. Imagine, a defense with the lineup of Grygera – Escude – Chivu – Trabelsi. Ajax will have a defense stronger than most Italian teams.
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[201] Of Ajax 2 – 2 Graz
AFC Ajax Amsterdam is in deep trouble. The third round qualifying match between Ajax and Graz resulted in 1 – 1 after full time. With the aggregate of 2 – 2, they are playing in extra time through the silver goal rule.
If Ajax lost this, it would be a disastrous start for Koemen and the boys.
C’mon Ajax.
p/s – And Ajax is through for the 2003/04 UEFA Champions’ League group stage! Thank you Tomas Galasek! Thank you Zlatan Ibrahimovic! Thank you Wesley Sneijder!
Ajax labour through against nine-man Graz
AMSTERDAM, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Ajax Amsterdam laboured through to the Champions League group stage on Wednesday when they beat nine-man Graz AK of Austria 2-1 with a ‘silver goal’ by Tomas Galasek.
The Czech midfielder struck from the penalty spot a minute from the end of the first period of extra time to settle a tightly contested third qualifying round tie 3-2 on aggregate in the Dutch side’s favour.
Ajax, who were fortunate to gain a 1-1 draw in Austria a fortnight ago, took a 15th-minute lead through Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who headed home a Maxwell cross.
By then Graz’s Roland Kollmann had already threatened Bogdan Lobont’s goal. Graz midfielder Dieter Ramusch also came close to an equaliser midway through the first half but Ajax’s French defender Julien Escude cleared his effort off the line.
Escude’s misjudgement, however, gave Kollmann a free route to the Ajax goal after 40 minutes and the Austrian international beat Lobont to make the score 1-1.
Ajax, Champions League quarter-finalists last season, lost their organisation and shortly after the break Kollmann failed to punish sloppy defending as he missed two great chances within 60 seconds.
The well-organised Austrian defence kept a tight grip of Ajax’s attackers to force extra time but six minutes into the first period they were down to 10 men after left back Gregor Potscher received his second yellow card for a foul on Wamberto.
Seven minutes later a handball by Graz’s Anton Ehmann was punished by Russian referee Valentin Ivanov with a penalty and a second booking for Ehmann, who was also dismissed.Galasek calmly converted the spot kick to kill the tie and bring relief to the four times former European champions.
Please read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6.
We slept like babies that night but woke up easily the next morning. I was the last to wake up. By the time I opened my dreamy eyes, the breakfast was served and it was great.
Once the stomach was filled partially, I undid the tent and prepared myself for another day. We were ready to leave the place by 0900 and left we did.
The day started easily as the path stayed flat. In fact, it stayed flat for another 10 or 15 miles. As in the previous day, the path followed the river jealously and so, the sound of the roaring river screamed at my right ear all day long. Furthermore, the trail was covered by tall and bushy trees, making our journey less painful.
Throughout the day, we didn’t talk to each other, perhaps each of us was trying to concentrate on our footing or just didn’t have the mood to talk. I myself rather be left alone most of the day. Nevertheless, there were times when we exchanged some thought, asking for help but never starting a conversation.
Somewhere deep in the canyon
At one point, I was so bored and I sang Row The Boat for more than an hour, repeating the rhythm over and over again until my boredom reached another level. The only thing that prevented me from dying out was the sight of the river and the mountain on both of my sides.
One of the few sceneries that kept me from total boredom
While singing, a group of hikers came from the opposite direction. One of its members was a girl with black hair, wearing a blue top and carrying a small backpack on her back. Boy, she was an angel. She smiled at me and I simply melted away. At that time it seemed, even my weariness melted away. He girl face stuck in my head and thus, I stopped singing Row The Boat and be with myself.
We hiked for another three or four hours before we reached a great place to take a cat nap in the heat of the afternoon. Immediately after freeing our shoulder from the 50 lbs burden, Epol and Leman went straight to sleep. I however, didn’t quite feel sleepy though no doubt, the rest was needed by me. I laid on my back with my head on a clean whitish stone, eyes wide opened singing old songs that I used to hear when I was a child. Later, I fell to sleep joining the others in slumberland.
The rest took longer than we had anticipated, more than an hour or so. And so, we took off quickly and quietly.
There was nothing worth mentioning in the second part of the day hiking. We simply hike all the way till about 1800 when we found a fantastic camping spot. There were a few tall confiner trees there and thus keeping the place sufficiently shaded. With the river a few meters from the camp site, it was cooling as the air was rich in water vapor. The river was filled with rapids, making the water looked white. Across the river, just after a companion of trees growing at the edge of the river, there was a rocky hill with the height as tall as the Dragster rollercoaster in Cedar Point.
The mountain that captured our hearts
Now, last week, I went to Cedar Point, just a day before the biggest blackout in North America happened. Though I went to a few crazy rides, I still can’t believe I took on the Millennium Force, the once tallest rollercoaster in the world, with the maximum height of 300++ feet. The first drop felt like terminal velocity; I actually felt my body wanting to get out of my seat. The only thing that had prevented me from flying without wings was the safety strap around my lap.
It took considerable amount of my courage and patience to get on the Millennium Force ride. It was fun but Dragster was something else. No matter how hard I tried, I could never garner any courage at all for the fastest and the tallest roller coaster in the world. I dare to drive 110 mph but driving a car and riding a roller coaster with a maximum speed of 120 mph and as high as 420 feet, are two different things. Call me a coward, call me a chicken but before that, I just need to challenge you to stand outside the track and see how the train sped faster than you could say holy fuck.
Enough digression.
We stopped at the said camping spot and just sit there. We had not even planned to stop but somehow, we couldn’t resist the temptation to stop and savor the pretty sight.
At this time, the Sun was still high and we could have just hiked for another hour or two. Leman and I were in favor of walking but Epol suggested that we camp here for the night. Nevertheless, Epol somehow managed to convince both of us to camp here tonight.
An upstream view from our campsite
By far, this was our best camping spot ever for this trip. In addition to God’s gift, the ground was not hard because white soft sand made up the earth. Standing on it was like standing on a thick expensive Persian carpet. And since we had lot of time, we properly planned the layout of the campsite.
Some of the wild flowers found nearby
To celebrate the sight, we built a huge bonfire relatively to the others that we had made earlier. Even dinner was comparatively more luxurious than the days before. After dinner, we exchanged some jokes.
The best joke of the night was about a refrigerator, an elephant, a giraffe and King Solomon. The first question was how to place a large elephant into an incredibly small refrigerator. As stupid as the question is, the answer is to open up the fridge door, push the mammal in and close the door. The second question was how to get a giraffe into the fridge of which the elephant took the whole fridge space. The answer to this was to open the door, get the frozen elephant out, push the giraffe in and close the door. The final trivia was when King Solomon calls up all the animals, which would not come. The answer is the giraffe because the giraffe is stuck in the fridge still. It is an old joke but it never fails to crack me up.
That night, before going to bed, I raised my head up and marveled at the heaven above. I didn’t see any constellation that I recognized but there were countless of stars decorating the dark sky. Imagine what the others in the cities, full of light and other kinds of pollution, are missing. By God’s name, even the mystifying Cleopatra cannot possibly be compared to the alluring Milky Way.