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Thursday, May 3, 2012

Ajax is landskampioen!

Ajax beat VVV 2-0 and this was the time when they succeeded to retain their Eredivisie title. This is their 31st title in Holland.


Siem de Jong scored twice. He again proved that he can score goals at decisive moments. He did exactly the same (scored twice) against Twente last season, which brought the championship for the first time in many years to Amsterdam. The victory was rather comfortable for Ajax, as they maintained over 70% ball possession.


Ajax have experienced a lot of problems this season. Injuries, conflict among the executive board, and elimination from the Champions League... they have overcome all these challenges and eventually grown stronger.


De Boer already told that Vertonghen had played his last game in the Eredivisie. He will perhaps leave for one of the Premier League clubs (though De Boer recommended Barcelona!). And the game was probably Ooijer's last match in his career. Some players will leave, but still Ajax have wonderful players who have developed rapidly throughout the season. I hope Eriksen, Anita and De Jong will all continue to lead Ajax.


Ajax have been loyal to their own philosophy. The success of the Ajax top team coincided with the renovation of their youth academy. Ajax A1 showed their quality to all the football fans in Europe, as new talents like Davy Klaassen, Lesley de Sa, Stefano Denswil, Joel Veltman, and Viktor Fischer played excellent football in the NextGen series. These young kids have never appeared in the Eredivisie matches (with some exceptions of  Klaassen and Ligeon), but the future is blight for Ajax.


Here's De Boer's comment after the victory, saying that the second title feels better than the first one.

"For the fans, last season was special because they waited so long for the third star on the shirt. But for me and my staff this one feels more beautiful seeing what happened this season. All the injuries we had and then the turbulence through all the problems in our board, but we stayed loyal to our vision."

Feyenoord's coach Koeman praised De Boer.

"I know Frank well, and he did a great job and won a deserved title. Nobody gave a dime for the chances of Ajax when we beat them at the end of January, but Frank stayed calm despite all the board turbulences. He never used it as an excuse and kept everything far away from his players and that deserves a big compliment."
(See the whole news article here)



Ajax will fight the last match of the seasons (vs Vittesse) probably with young or inexperienced players. This is also going to be a very interesting game.


Anyway, many congratulations to the players and those who live in Amsterdam!
And I would like thank the club for having shown us wonderful football.