Category: Sports

Ajax’s hope of defending the Eredivisie title next year looks excessively bright for the moment.

Almost all of Ajax first team members are staying in Amsterdam, including the manager, Ronald Koeman. This is certainly good news by any standard. About less than a year ago, I was expecting some of players in Ajax to move to any bigger club due to Ajax’s success in the Champions League for the past two seasons. Ibrahimovic’s impressive performance in the last Euro also made me think that would be gone before the season starts anew.

On summer transfer, Marseille has been cited to show interest in Ibrahimovic. Marseille currently has a huge sum of money due to the sale of Didier Drogba to Chelsea. Therefore, Marseille certainly can afford to pay Ajax’s asking price. However, if he was to move, I doubt it will be Marseille. Thus, a possibility of Ibrahimovic playing in France is near to nil.

Trabelsi, the black sheep of Ajax is said to have struck an agreement with Arsenal. Once linked with Manchester United, the player has problem with Ajax and has been removed from the first team since last year. The sale of Trabelsi is ultimately good despite the fact that Ajax could use him. Skysports has more.

Rafael van der Vaart is staying for at least another season or two. That is for sure.

Johnny Heitinga, the one that received a red card during a the Netherlands – Czech Republic Euro 2004 match, has said that he is ready for the big arena in the Serie A. I vehemently disagree with him. Last season, he spent most of the time on the bench because he had a terrible injury. Despite of his placing in de Oranje, compared to his teammates, he has only played a few league games. He should stay at Ajax simply because he needs more experience, especially with the Champions League.

Ajax’s greatest loss is probably due to the changes in coaching staff. The legendary Macro van Basten and John van’t Schip has been brought to manage de Oranje as Dick Advocaat resigns from the national team.

Again, all this are but anything. It does not affect Ajax, or at least it does not weaken Ajax in any whatsoever way.

On new players, I have not heard anything new. De Ridder, coming out from Jong Ajax is still hot. But, something is coming out from Argentina. It is Carlos Tevez. It is just rumor. Nothing official yet.

But the best thing is, those bastards, PSV and Feyenoord, the other two of the Eredivisie’s Big Three are significantly being stripped off of their influential players.

PSV sold Kezman and Robben to Chelsea. Chelsea, already loaded superstars, will be almost invincible with the prolific Kezman upfront and the amazing Robben in the wing. I dare bet that Chelsea will capitalize on the English Premier League. Manchester United dominance is wading fast.

The bloody Rommedahl is heading to Charlton and Hofland is crossing the German border to Wolfsburg. It has been rumored that even Waterreus is going out of PSV.

There are a few players coming into PSV. The most notable is Philip Cocu. Yes, that Cocu. Nevertheless, I do not think Ajax has anything to worry about with what is happening in Eindhoven.

Feyenoord is doing even worse. Van Persie is gone to Arsenal. Some other players like De Nooijer are also leaving the Rotterdammer. Even Shinji Ono has expressed his intention of leaving Rotterdam behind for Spain. In short, with an already weakened team, Feyenoord will struggle to get hold on the third place just like it did last season.

Ah. What a season next year will be. The prospect is marvelous. The only worry is probably the Champions League. I hope those lads will get at least to the quarterfinal next year.

p/s – Ajax is having a friendly today against Queens Park Rangers.
pp/s – Ajax defeated QPR by one goal.

It was a total heartbreak to see Portugal advances to the Final at the expense of de Oranje. A newly born golden generation of Oranje succumbed to a fading great Portuguese generation. However, the worst disaster is still the loss to the Czech Republic. De Oranje fans may argue who the blame is due to but I believe, all of us will agree that it is the worst disaster for de Oranje in Euro 2004 nonetheless.

And then, the unexpected happened. The home of a once great Greek empire beat the new favorite of the tournament, the Czech in the Semifinal. Before everything went astray, the biggest surprise was seeing the Greek making through pass the group stage with Spain as a sacrifice to Zeus.

And then, it was seeing the Greek at the Semifinal.
And then, it was seeing the Greek in the Final.
Now the Greek, a total outsider, stormed Lisbon and there they are, currently leading the conqueror of de Oranje, the host of the tournament, by one goal.

Of all teams, it is the Greek!

Who would have thought this is possible?

How is this possible?

Even Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity is easier to comprehend.

Reality is certainly weirder than fiction. I thought the last World Cup was crazy but at least, in the very end, order was restored. God must have slipped into slumber for a few moments

But now, God must be sleeping throughout the tournament!

I pray to God, let sanity reinstate itself. Enough madness. Enough lunacy. This is too much for the real world.

I pray to God, Montserrat, currently taking the last place in FIFA’s ranking, would not make it to the 2006 World Cup Finals in Germany.

Mercy I say. My sanity is almost gone. Mercy milord before my sanity is blown apart.

God, awake thy must!

But all is too late. It is already the fifth minute of the stoppage time. Greek, as they had in history, is victorious.

In any case, this is the most catchiest football (yes, again, it is football, not soccer) related phrase, “Ancient Greece had 12 gods, modern Greece has 11“. Allow me to rephrase that. Ancient Greece had 12 gods, modern Greece has 11 llamas. Maybe minus Nikos Machlas because he was an Ajacied.

1. The final whistle has been blown. I read the stats and I could only feel dismay. This is an injustice.

2. The Greek is more italier than the Italian. Unbelievable how the statistic shows great domination by the Iberian and yet, the statistic does not conform with the result. Therefore, I am adding a new team to my hate list. Greece, say hi to Italy (all Italian teams included), Manchester United and Selangor.

p/s – it is fourth of July. Happy birthday to the idealists of freedom and liberty. Sadly reality does not seem to reflect ideal. Nevertheless, to liberty and freedom.

I guess everybody has heard the news. The Portuguese deserves it.

I hope the Czech will win against Denmark and eventually seize the trophy. I am saying this because the Czech Republic is the only team with Ajax’s players; they are Galasek and Grygera.

There is nothing more to be said.

Next stop, World Cup 2006 in Germany.

Hup Holland Hup.

Earlier today, Dick Advocaat has hinted that he might step down as the Dutch national team manager after the current ongoing tournament. He cited that fans’ criticism on the substitution of Robben with Bosvelt during the arguably the most exciting match of the Euro 2004.

I have said “fuck Advocaat” in my earlier post. In fact, the word “fuck Advocaat” was written live as the match went on badly after a marvelous start. And I myself have received a few criticisms from my visitors; even more strangers when Google ranked me number one for the search phrase “fuck Advocaat”.

Well, I admit. I had been too harsh. Therefore, I will bow to some of my visitors’ demand for an apology and this post is dedicated to just that.

I apologize for saying the F-word.

Nevertheless, I still believe the replacement of Robben was a huge mistake. Even Kluivert had said last week that Advocaat deserves the fans’ abuse. In my opinion and many others de Oranje supporters, a removal of Arjen Robben is similar to removing Zidane from the French squad.

This is because de Oranje essentially depends on wingers. With wrong-minded wingers (read defensive wingers, like Bosvelt), the whole team will implode, just like what had happened during the Czech game. I could certainly see how the match changed. Many others, including some of my Dutch friends, hold the same opinion with me.

Yet, I admit, without Advocaat, de Oranje would probably be a terrible team with world class talented players, just like Spain. For almost 8 long years, de Oranje had been struggling to perform as a team and failed. The greatest embarrassment is de Oranje failure to qualify for the last World Cup. But Advocaat at least, somehow, managed to rebuild the team and right now, at least the Dutch is performing if you put a blind eye on the Netherlands – Germany match and a few other games during the qualification stage.

But, Advocaat should not feel threatened by fans’ criticism no matter how personal it is. Criticism is part of the game. When you in a stadium, or anyway, of course you will hear some bad words but that what makes the game as a game. Criticism, no matter how harsh it is, is just part of the game. There is no need to quit the manager post just because the fans’ insulted you.

Heck! The Barca’s fans booed their own club a few years back but that does not mean they hated Barcelona. It was just criticism; a demand for a better performance, just like what happened in Aveiro. In fact, this criticism probably helped Advocaat to manage de Oranje. Notice how Robben was not removed during the Sweden match.

Again, I apologize for the F-word directed at Advocaat. However, I will only do the Advocaat banner thing if de Oranje wins the tournament. And nope, I will not delete it. I am somewhat against censorship.

Alright. Let’s stop disputing. Support de Oranje!

Let’s harass the Portuguese in return.

And Advocaat, you should stay, at least until World Cup 2006. Do not do a Voeller; do an Eriksson.

p/s – I hope Ibrahimovic is okay.
pp/s – read this. Thank God I have no relationship with Portugal.