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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.

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.

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.