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-- Anonymous, August 14, 2002

Answers

Yes Sir: Young Ajax has made it to the second round of the Amstel Malt Cup (= Amstel Cup for reserves teams) by beating Young Vitesse in the last first round group game at De Toekomst. The convincing result was 4-1.

Young Ajax was coached by... Ronald Koeman and Tonnie Bruins Slot. John van 't Schip was absent due to (according to Ajax.nl) 'family affairs'. Koeman: "Ruud Krol [who is the first man to replace the Young Ajax coach if he's absent, ed.] was not available, and Tonnie and I were going to wacth the game anyway."

The duo of Ajax-1 coaches came up with the following starting line- up: Stekelenburg; Cruz, Promes, Yakubu, Valencia; Akachar, Kujala, Sneijder; Bechan, Krohn-Dehli, Wamberto.

Stefano Seedorf was missing due to an injury he sustained in training earlier that day. Rustenberg, Taberima and Benson Erchiah were brought on later in the game, so that Young Ajax consisted of players from no less than four Ajax squads: Ajax-1, Young Ajax, Ajax A1 and the Ajax Saturday-1 amateurs.

Goals were scored by Wamberto (30'), Kiran Bechan (55'), and Akachar (62'), who scored with a beautiful lob after a Sneijder thru-pass. At the score of 3-0, Young Vitesse pulled a goal back (Rojer, 77'), but Michael Krohn-Dehli brought re-established the margin of three goals: 4-1 (80').

According to Ajax.nl this was a really good performance by Young Ajax, which was appreciated by the 300 spectators at De Toekomst. Good work, as Vitesse has one of the best reserves teams in Holland.

Once I find out about the second round draw, I will post it here.

-- Anonymous, November 22, 2002

Maarten Stekelenburg has made his return to action in the Amstel Malt Cup game at De Toekomst between Young Ajax and Young FC Utrecht. He did well, but could not prevent that the Utrecht side notched a point from De Toekomst, where some 200 spectators were watching.

Coach John van 't Schip's main problem is the fact that he does not have a real central striker. His squad consists of only ten Young Ajax players. He needs additional Ajax-1, Ajax A1 or players from the Saturday amateurs section.

Against young FC Utrecht, Daniël Cruz played as a central forward. Young Ajax was the better side throughout the game, but only Jamal Akachar (an Ajax Saturday-1 player) managed to score in the first half, on a long pass by Yakubu: 1-0 (33'). Ajax then failed to score a second, allowing Mark Tsiorlas to equalize (76').

Young Ajax will now have to beat Young Vitesse in the final group game in order to advance. Even if they do, they can still be eliminated if the last match between Young Vitesse and Young FC Utrecht ends in a draw.

Young Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Kujala, Pasanen, Yakubu, Valencia; Krohn-Dehli, Sneijder, Seedorf; Bechan, Cruz, Akachar.

-- Anonymous, November 19, 2002

Jim, Raymond Nagiau and I were three of the 1,300 spectators at De Toekomst watching the Talents Competition edition of The Classic. An lively, exciting game - especially in the second half - which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The BIG difference between Young Ajax last year and Young Ajax this year is that the current core squad consists of only seven or eight players. Extra players from Ajax-1, Ajax A1 or the Saturday Amateurs section are always required to complete the squad. No less than six A1 players as well as one Saturday Amateur were in John van 't Schip selection yesterday. Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman was dealing with all kinds of injuries (Zlatan, Litmanen, Trabelsi) and therefore needed all Ajax-1 playes, except Nourdin Boukhari, who played for Young Ajax.

The game: quite simply, Young Ajax outplayed Young F-Word throughout the game. But the Rotterdammers scored, virtually the first time they crossed the middle line. The ball was not cleared by the defence, which allowed Alberto to pick it up on the edge of the penalty box and curl it into the upper ninety. A truly beautiful goal, it must be admitted: 0-1 (10').

The Ajax board and coaches always stress the fact that Young Ajax is there for player development - not for winning the league. Well, fine. Looking at it from that perspective, it was a great game. Almost every Young Ajax player was faster and tactically more mature than his opponent. The difference in skill between the teams was quite large.

Aax had the chances to equalize (the best one was a free passage for Ai star Daniël de Ridder, but he failed). Feyenoord had nothing to offer in the remainder of the first half, until the very last minute. From a corner (the second time they crossed the middle line) they had almost scored their second.

In the second half, Ajax continued to dominate, but Feyenoord managed to break out more often than in the first half. On that very moment (of course, you'd almost say) Young Ajax equalized, as Wesley Sneijder provided Nourdin Boukhari with a tremendous, curling, long cross, which the former Sparta player nodded home at the far post: 1- 1 (64').

Well deserved, obviously, but Young Ajax did not get much time to enjoy it. Only two minutes later, it was Alberto again who put Young Feyenoord back in the lead by slamming home from a free-kick, via the inside of the post. Once again, extremely well-taken and a spectacularly beautiful goal: 1-2 (66'). He celebrated his goal by pulling off his shirt and making several provocative gestures to the crowd. An extremely stupid thing to do and quite disgraceful as well, because this way, you turn a nice, low-key reserves game into a risk game. The present F-Siders swore that Alberto was not going to leave Amsterdam alive, etcetera.

It also set the game on fire. Young Ajax gave everything in the final twenty minutes and could still have won the game. The second equalizer came relatively soon (once again courtesy of Nourdin Boukhari, finishing well from a corner kick, 74'). After that, there were chances for Young Ajax to win, but it didn't happen.

For pictures on Ajax.nl, follow this link. For the standings in the Talents Competition follow this link. As you'll see, despite two defeats and a draw in the last three games, Young Ajax still has a game in hand to jump to tops (alone).

The Young Ajax line-up, finally: Taberima; Kujala, Promes (89. Muller van Moppes), Rustenburg, Valencia; De Ridder (63. Benson Erchiah), Seedorf, Sneijder; Bechan (78. Akachar), Krohn-Dehli, Boukhari.

(I did not know Taberima, the goalkeeper, but he seemed very young and very short, and very insecure on high balls...)

-- Anonymous, November 12, 2002

2:2 at De Toekomst tonight.RATS BIT!! Sorry,no details and I must catch a shuttle to the airport.Tally Ho!A'dam, home of A'dam's( en Chivu's) Rib, here I come!

-- Anonymous, November 11, 2002

Coming monday AJAX 2 - Feyenoord 2 will be played.

The last games (against resp. FC Twente and Willem II) were lost. Hopefully they become inspired by the large success the victory of AJAX A1 on Feyenoord A1 and they pick up winning in the competition.

Probably the upcoming stars De Ridder and Sneijder will start in the squad, so it looks good ...

-- Anonymous, November 08, 2002

Just like Marco van Basten at Ajax A1, John van 't Schip's first game as coach of Young Ajax was a disappointment. The Ajax reserves lost their Talents Competition home game against Young Willem II: 1- 3.

Quite honestly, no Ajacied could possibly be blamed for the defeat. The Young Ajax squad consists of only ten players this season. For each game, some Ajax-1 or Ajax A1 players are added to make it a full squad. However, due to the injuries of O'Brien, Maxwell, Van der Vaart and Heitinga, Ronald Koeman needed all available Ajax-1 players to prepare for the Rosenborg BK Champions League game. In fact, he even needed Young Ajax player Nigel de Jong. Also, players such as Vierklau, Knopper, De Cler, Ikedia, Hosé and Van der Gun have departed. And the Young Ajax squad is hit by injuries, too.

Therefore, there were only six Young Ajax players in the line-up. The rest were A-juniors, or even players from the highest team in Ajax' amateur section (known as 'Ajax Saturday') making for one of the youngest 'Ajax-2' line-ups ever:

Vermeer; Mofokeng, Promes, Valencia, Vermaelen; De Ridder (63. Ahaddouch), Kujala, Sneijder (82. Benson Erchiah); Akachar, Bechan, Seedorf.

Ajax had a bad start, as the entire first team squad of Willem II (including former Ajacied Cedric van der Gun) was watching from the stands of De Toekomst. Did it have to do with the unlikely line-up, or not? Either way, Ozkaya finished from a corner in the third minute: 0-1.

It was obvious that the level was too high of some players in the Ajax team, especially the 'Saturday' guys. However, it must be noted that A-junior Daniël de Ridder had an excellent game. He is considered one of the 'gems' for the future in the Ajax youth ranks, just like Young Ajax player Wesley Sneijder.

Ajax slowly started pushing. José Valencia's equalizer (53') was a deserved one. In the minutes thereafter, the 2-1 should have been scoed, but it wasn't. Like so often, the goal was then scored on the other side: 1-2 to Willem II, courtesy of Van Zon (58').

Ajax went for the equalizer, but Willem II was more dangerous on counter-attacks. The Tilburgers gave Young Ajax the knock-out blow in stoppage time, on a Hadouir goal (90').

Young Ajax' defeat allowed Young RKC Waalwijk (who beat Young FC Twente, 1-0) to leapfrog Ajax. The Waalwijk side is now in the lead: 13 points out of 6 games. Young Ajax is second (12 points), followed by young feyenoord (11 points). Check the results and table over HERE, on NOS Teletekst.

Meanwhile, because it is so hard to work with this very small Young Ajax squad, there are rumors (on AjaxJeugd.nl) that Brazilian defender Walker (now playing for Germinal Beerschot Antwerp) is to return to Amsterdam.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2002

Ajacieden with Orange U19 to Second Round ...

Nigel de Jong, Wesley Sneijder and Daniel de Ridder placed themselves with the Dutch National Team under 19 years for the Second qualification round for the European championship.

Orange finished in Latvia in her poule on the first place. The Netherlands played the last days 3 games. Friday had played with 1 - 1 against Turkey, Sunday covered the manschappen of of zwam Latvia with 4 - 0 and Tuesday become Finland with 3 - 0 reports. In this last game Daniel de Ridder (Ajax) scored once. The next round stands in the spring of 2003 on the programme.

-- Anonymous, October 16, 2002

Just like last season, Young Ajax plays in two domestic cup competitions: the 'big' Amstel Cup as well as (of course) the Amstel Malt Cup (= the Amstel Cup for reserves teams). The draw for the first round group stage took place todat.

Coach John van 't Schip and his lads are in a group with Young Vitesse (note that the Arhem side is arguably Holland's second best club when it comes to reserves and youth football!), Young FC Volendam and Young FC Utrecht.

Young Ajax' Amstel Malt Cup campaign kick off next Thursday (24 October) with a home game at De Toekomst against Young Vitesse. Young Vitesse eliminated Young Ajax last season, in the semi-finals of the Amstel Malt Cup.

A week and a half later, on 05 November, Young Ajax faces the first team of amateur side Huizen in the 'big' Amstel Cup.

On 14 November is the second Amstel Malt Cup group game, away to Young FC Volendam, only a few kilometres north of Amsterdam. The last game of the group is four days later, at De Toekomst, at home to Young FC Utrecht.

You'll find all match details in this thread on Ajax USA, of course :- )

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2002

Young Ajax' first game, by the way, is scheduled for Monday 21 October, at De Toekomst: Young Ajax vs Young Willem II.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2002

Today's the day to officially say "welcome home" to John van 't Schip. The 38 year-old former right winger just finished his very first training session as the new Young Ajax coach. Good to see him back at the club, after his painful safari at FC Twente.

-- Anonymous, October 14, 2002

A report appeared on Ajax.nl today saying that John van 't Schip will start as the new coach of Young Ajax on Monday. Gerard van der Lem will go to Saudi-Arabia with immediate effect, like he requested.

Good luck to Van der Lem (I'm sure we'll see him back one day) and even better luck to John van 't Schip. Welcome back.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2002

I wrote: "There is no Young Ajax line-up on Ajax.nl or Ajax Jeugd.nl, unfortunately"... But there's always FC Twente.nl! :-)

Line-up Young Ajax: Vermeer; Cruz (63. De Ridder), De Jong, Vierklau (61. Rustenburg), Mofokeng; Kujala (88. Van Moppes), Sneyder, Seedorf; Bechan, Krohn-Dehli, Valencia.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2002

Only one day after Ajax-1 lost its first points of the season, Young Ajax did the same thing. The Ajax reserves even lost the full three points in Enschede, at Young FC Twente: 2-0.

Another thing Ajax' first and second teams have in common: they both face a large number of injuries, and the flu has hit the team hard. Even coach Gerard van der Lem had to stay in bed. Ronald Koeman's coach-assistant, Ruud Krol, did the honours, coaching a team in which three A-juniors and one B-junior had to play.

Young Ajax was the better side in the first half, but did concede the opening goal, scored by Twente's first team regular, Kurt Van der Paar (20'). Stefano Seedorf missed the best chance to equalize before the half-time break.

In the second half, too, Young Ajax was the dominant side. Wesley Sneijder should have equalized for the Amsterdammers some twenty minutes before the end, but he failed. A Young FC Twente counter- attack, finished off by Sergio Babb, doubled the score for the visitors. A report on Ajax Jeugd.nl, however, claims that Babb provided the assist and that it was Collins John who scored.

Despite the first defeat of the season, Young Ajax remains at the top of the Talents Competition, with 12 points out of 5 games, two points ahead of Young FC Twente and Young RKC Waalwijk.

Young Feyenoord lost two points at home against Young SC Heerenveen (2-2), whereas Young PSV lost at home to Young RKC Waalwijk (0-1). The reserves teams of Ajax' two biggest rivals are currently four and eight points behind, respectively. Check the table on this page of NOS Teletekst (this link may be invalid in a few days' time).

There is no Young Ajax line-up on Ajax.nl or Ajax Jeugd.nl, unfortunately.

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2002

In addition to Ben's posts (thanks, dude)...

This was Young Ajax' line-up against Young PSV: Didulica; Cruz, De Jong, Heitinga, Valencia; Kujala, Sneijder, Seedorf; Bechan, Krohn- Dehli, Boukhari.

With 1,500 spectators watching at De Toekomst, Nourdin Boukhari gave Young Ajax the lead (15'), after which Ajax remained the better side throughout the game. But after Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's rather undeserved equalizer, the Amsterdammers kept missing once chance after the other. PSV then dominated the first twenty minutes of the second half, without creating too much real danger. Stephano Seedorf wrapped it up by scoring two (reportedly) beautiful goals (72' and 78'). Final score: Young Ajax 3, Young PSV 1.

-- Anonymous, September 28, 2002

As a follow-on to my earlier post re: Jong Ajax v. Jong PSV, the goal scorers for Jong Ajax were Stefano Seedorf with a brace and Norodin Boukhari with one.One other note of interest: with usual netminder Robert Zwinkels shelved at least 4 weeks thru injury, Joe Didulica worked between the sticks yesterday.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2002

OOPS, I meant there is NO sense having a lame duck coach guide Jong Ajax.Speaking of Jong Ajax, they won 3:1 home to Jong PSV today.I couldn't locate any match details as of the time of this post..3:15pm on the east coast.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2002

I just checked Ajax.nl and it is finally official,i.e. reported by the club: John van't Schip IS returning to Ajax. He signed a 3 year contract to take the reins from coach van der Lem at Jong Ajax.The move had been written of for several weeks. Now Ajax have finally put their stamp on it.The only question is when he will take over.Saudi Arabia want coach van der Lem to start next month while his contract ends next July. If Ajax is as smart as I believe they are, they will bring coach van't Schip into the side ASAFP(can't tell ya what the F means as this is a family website)to allow the transition to be smooth as silk. And, they will allow coach van der Lem to leave. In my opinion, there is simply sense having a lame duck coach trying to guide the team when the new coach is probably eager to get going.

-- Anonymous, September 23, 2002

There is now a full report on Ajax.nl:

Young Vitesse - Young Ajax 1-3

Young Ajax played in the following line-up: Didulica; Cruz, De Jong, Heitinga, Van Damme (70. van Damme); Kujala, Seedorf (60. Bechan), Sneijder (80. Mofokeng); Krohn-Dehli, Mido, Boukhari.

The team reportedly played an excellent game in which - how ironic - Mido opened the scoring. Coach Gerard van der Lem said: "My only criticism at half-time was that we didn't finish the chances. It was incredible how many chances we had. It should have been 0-3 or 0-4 at least."

Mido scored once, but - according to the report - missed four ot five excellent chances. However, he played well and worked hard throughout the game.

After twenty minutes of Vitesse pressure in the second half, Van der Lem replaced three players (Van Damme and Seedorf due to ankle injuries). It was 0-1 until the 80th minute, but the final ten minutes of the game saw another three goals. First, Nigel de Jong doubled the score by a fine header goal. After Vitesse had reduced the margin to one, Kiran Bechan beautifully fired home from a fast counter-attack.

Meanwhile, Young F-Word drew against Young Willem II, so Young Ajax is now alone at the top of the table, with the full nine points out of its first three games (are you watching, Danny Blind and Ajax A1...?). Next weekend: Young Ajax vs Young PSV.

-- Anonymous, September 17, 2002

According to Vitesseworld Mido, De Jong and Mofokeng were the goalscorers. Mido scored 0-1 in the first half and the last three goals were scored in the final 10 minutes. 0-2, 1-2 and 1-3.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Ajaxjeugd.nl is carrying a headline that Jong Ajax went to Arnhem today and won by 1:3. I couldn't find any details at this site or NOS Teletekst; which lists the program of matches from today and the standings at #697.

-- Anonymous, September 16, 2002

Still no official news on Ajax.nl about Van 't Schip moving to Young Ajax. AjaxNetwerk got the news from teletekst and teletekst got the news from sports programm Tros Sport. Let's wait and see.

-- Anonymous, September 12, 2002

Well, I was almost right about RKC-Ajax, except that Seeforf scored the equalizer instead of Sneijders.

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2002

John van 't Schip has indeed returned to Ajax. After his terrible experiences at Twente last year, he has said that he never wants to be coach of a first team again. Now that Van der Lem is leaving unexpectedly for Saudi Arabia, Ajax asked John to come back and train Young Ajax.

I can't get into www.ajax.nl at the moment so I'll just write what I remember about Young RKC - Young Ajax. Don't bet all your money on what I'm saying here ;) Ajax didn't play very well and was 2-0 down after half an hour. Then Boukhari made a beautiful goal with a lob over the keeper. In the 2nd half Wesley Sneijder (who was again the best player on the pitch. It really looks like we already have another Van der Vaart) scored the equalizer and just before the end he converted a penalty kick. This is all I remember, I'll get back here if it turns out that more interesting stuff can be said about this match. :)

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2002

Both Teletekst and Ajax netwerk are running reports which ,I believe, say that John van't Schip will be returning to Ajax...as the replacemnt for Gerard van der Lem at Jong Ajax. Also,does anyone have details of the RKC v.Jong Ajax tilt, won 2:3 by Jong Ajax?

-- Anonymous, September 10, 2002

Hardly any league football these days. Neither for Ajax-1 nor for Young Ajax. Therefore, the two highest Ajax teams played each other last week. For a report of Ajax-1 vs Young Ajax, check the Friendly games thread.

Young Ajax played another friendly game, though, which I didn't even notice. On Friday 30 August, they played Japansede side Komazawa at De Toekomst. Result: 6-1 to Young Ajax. The very short report on Ajax.nl mentions five of the goalscorers: Kiran Bechan, Brutil Hosé, Stefano Seedorf, Daniel Cruz and Wesley Sneijder.

Young Ajax took a 5-0 lead before the Japanese opponent pulled a goal back.

-- Anonymous, September 08, 2002

I have heard that young talent Nando Rafael has been plucked by Huub Stevens and Hertha Berlin. Is this true? Big loss as this kid has a big future from what I have read.

To be honest I would have preferred to see him with the first team along with the young Seedorf.

Any reasons why they are not up with the big boys?

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

In reply to Bill's question: the draw for the first round of the Amstel Cup (the group stage was apparently a preliminary round; it was called the first round last season - a matter of terminology) will take place tomorrow (Friday) night at 22:30 CET. I will post the next opponent in this thread straight away and a news report about it will appear shortly after that on the Ajax USA homepage.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

For those supporters, me included, who have wondered about the situation with Nando Rafael, there is an article on Ajax.nl about him.I believe it says that Nando Rafael is on his way to Hertha Berlin. Beyond that, it's all greek, er dutch, to me.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

Any news on who Young Ajax have got in the next round of the Amstel Cup.

-- Anonymous, August 29, 2002

In the pooooring rain, Young Ajax has won its third and final match in the group stage of the Amstel Cup, against amateurs Hollandia from the town of Hoorn: 6-0. A news report about this game will appear on the Ajax USA homepage a.s.a.p. Don't know any details (scorers, line- up) yet, but Young Ajax finished tops in group 1, with seven points out of three games, and a smashing goal-difference of 15-2. We're starting to get used to this stuff... but it's excellent work.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

According to NOS Teletekst (electronic page #645-1 in your programme, number 1 in your heart!), Jong Ajax defeated Hollandia by 6:0 today.No scoring recap was printed. The match, Jong Ajax last Amstel Cup first round group match, leaves our lads on 7 points from 3 matches. Jong Ajax has scoort 15 goals while conceding just the two to AZ's Nelisse in their first match. AZ's match, v Ter Leede, was postponed it appears.

Certainly much better news than a) the crap about Juve and Sunderland ,unable to solve their own striker problems,coming to Ajax with respective hats in hand or b)Ajax miserly ways with Jari. I knew I'd find reason to smile,today , where Ajax is concerned. It just took until 2200 CET or so.

-- Anonymous, August 20, 2002

I am really upbeat about the upcoming season, I hope that de Cler finds his way back into the Ajax first 11, and also for Heitinga. I can definetly see the likes of Seedorf, Schneider, Nando Rafael and de Jong breaking through the first team. Here is my first 11: Sikora Zlatan V.d. Meyde

O'Brien v.d. Vaart Seedorf

de Cler Chivu Heitinga Trabelsi

Stekelenburg.

tell me what you think and give me your first 11 for the up and coming season

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Some GREAT work from Pienaar and Seedorf on display in the video- highlights from Young Ajax-AZ match at SuperShota. I hope Koeman finds a way to work these guys into the first team; they're magic!

http://www.geocities.com/supershota/

-- Anonymous, August 14, 2002