The 'real' football season is about to start in The Netherlands, starting with the very first games in the first round of this season's Amstel Cup. The cup competition will have a very different structure this season: there is no longer a group phase and all participating clubs start in round one, except the clubs playing in European competition.

Young Ajax, Ajax's reserves team, qualified for the 'big' Amstel Cup once again, by winning the Amstel Malt Cup (for reserves teams) last season. In the first round the team of coaches John van 't Schip and Marco van Basten will play an away game at amateur side IJsselmeervogels from Spakenburg. The club plays in the Top Class of Dutch amateur football. In fact, they're in the same division as Ajax's Saturday-1 amateur team this season.

IJsselmeervogels vs Young Ajax will be played on the day of the first Champions League qualifier between Grazer AK and Ajax in Austria: Tuesday 12 August, kick-off 19:30 CET. As usual Ajax USA will publish match reports of Young Ajax's cup games in the 'big' Amstel Cup, so there will be two match reports for you to read on Wednesday morning...

Meanwhile in Spakenburg, Holland...

Amstel Cup, first round:

IJsselmeervogels vs Young Ajax 2-4 (after extra time).

Don't know any of the details yet. Match report will appear on Ajax USA soon!

Perhaps I can be of assistance.Followed both matches on A/N.Regarding Ijsselmeervogels v. Jong Ajax the postings indicate that the scoring went:


0:1 Cullina 4'
1:1 vd Graeff 25'

Halftime 1:1

2:1 Kemper 49'
2:2 Cullina 88'

Fulltime 2:2

2:3 Cullina 96'
2:4 De Ridder 101'

Final score aet 2:4

I am posting misfit. Must be the three 3-1/2 hour Bruce Springsteen ( a good half Dutchman for you)shows in 4 days.My Brane is fride. One ,it's Culina and two, I'm missing a comma between Ajax and the word the. In the words of tunesmith Jimmy Buffett:"Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa"!

Ajax Netwerk has an article indicating that TEC, an amateur side, will be the opponent of Jong Ajax in the next round.Jong Ajax will be away to TEC. He is a list of all fixtures for the second round:

Kloetinge- FC Twente
Sparta- De Graafschap
WHC- FC Groningen
Heracles Almelo-ADO Den Haag
Baronie- Roda JC
De Treffers- BV Veendam
Go Ahead Eagles- Stormvogels Telstar
Vitesse- Fortuna Sittard
HFC Haarlem- Cambuur Leeuwarden
Excelsior- VVV
Bennekom- Willem II
Putten/SC Heerenveen- AZ/Jong Heerenveen
FC Den Bosch- PEC Zwolle
RBC Roosendaal- MVV
TEC- JONG AJAX
Emmen- FC Eindhoven
FC Onmiworld- Deltasport
AGOVV Apeldoorn- RKC Waalwijk
Argon- FC Volendam
Hoek- Genemuiden

Our match report of IJsselmeervogels vs Young Ajax is now available on Ajax USA:

http://www.ajax-usa.com/news/2003-2...cond-round.html

Remaining Second Round Fixtures (all played tonight):

E = Eredivisie
F = First Division
A = amateur
R = professional reserves

TEC (A) - Young Ajax (R)
De Baronie (A) - Roda JC (E)
Hoek (A) - SC Genemuiden (A)
FC Omniworld (A) - Deltasport (A)

Already Qualified For Third Round:

FC Twente (E)
Willem II (E)
BV Veendam (F)
Heracles Almelo (F)
Vitesse (F)
Sparta Rotterdam (F)
FC Eindhoven (F)
FC Volendam (E)
Excelsior (F)
Cambuur Leeuwarden (F)
SC Heerenveen (E)
RBC Roosendaal (E)
Stormvogels Telstar (F)
RKC Waalwijk (E)
FC Den Bosch (F)
FC Groningen (E)

Most remarkable result in the second round: Heracles Almelo (F) vs ADO Den Haag (E) 4-0. After the game coaches and players of ADO Den Haag announced that they will pay each of the travelling Den Haag fans their 25 euros back for their combi bus ticket.

Draw for the third round is tonight, when all of the games have been played. Third round games are to be played on 28 and 29 October. At least two (possibly four) amateur clubs and nine First Division clubs will be in the draw for the third round, which is cool. That's what cup football should be about. This is much nicer than last year.

Last year's top six from the Eredivisie (PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord, NAC Breda, NEC and FC Utrecht) will join in in round four (= the 'round of sixteen'), scheduled for December. That's the only thing I still hate about it: for the 'Big Three' it only takes four wins to win the Amstel Cup.

Kick-off of TEC vs Young Ajax is 18:00 Dutch time, which is in 80 minutes' time...

The Ajax USA homepage will tell you that Ajax vs AZ is the next game, because we only announce Ajax-1 games. But the real 'next game for Ajax fans is Young Ajax's third round fixture in the 'big' Amstel Cup, away at First Division top side FC Den Bosch. The game will be played this Wednesday, 29 October, kick-off 20:00 CET. A match report of the game will appear on Ajax USA the next morning (Dutch time).

Moreover: after Wednesday night's cup fixtures the draw for the fourth round will take place, which is the point at which the 'European' teams (PSV, Ajax, Feyenoord, NAC Breda, NEC and FC Utrecht) will enter the competition. So be sure to visit this thread on Wednesday night!

Some thoughts...

It is very interesting to see what Young Ajax has achieved in the past two seasons of great Amstel Cup football. They used to be a total outsider, a bunch of kids that every opponent expected to eliminate. It says a lot that this has totally changed. I just read some stuff on the FC Den Bosch website and their coach actually says that he thinks "Den Bosch may have a chance" against Young Ajax. Statements like these were absolutely unthinkable three years ago. At the time professional clubs considered it their duty to eliminate such a team of Ajax kids - and it was a historic failure if they didn't.

Now they have become very cautious and they regard Young Ajax as a force to take very seriously. We, Ajax supporters, have gotten used to this in the past two years, but it really says a lot that no other second team has such a reputation. Last season Young Vitesse was eliminated by an amateur opponent (SC Joure) and this was deemed quite normal. Young PSV played FC Eindhoven, the bottom team in the First Division at the time - and Young PSV was brushed aside by the score of 4-1.

A few years ago Ajax's reserves were not really regarded as 'Ajax'. But if they play an amateur opponent today, the opponents' sports park will sell out completely and the chairman of the club will say that the visit of 'Ajax' (they usually skip the word 'Young') is the highlight in club history. This is typical: Young Ajax has become a serious representative of the club, albeit not the first team. It also helps that the Young Ajax players are actually close to the first team and that many of them have already played their first Ajax-1 minutes.

The position of Young Ajax within Ajax itself has also changed. Three years ago Young Ajax, if Young Ajax qualified for the 'big' Amstel Cup, their home games against professional opponents were usually visited by a few hundred regular visitors of De Toekomst. If they play at home against a professional team now De Toekomst is usually too small - and they can independently draw 8,000 or considerably more people to the ArenA. The away section in FC Den Bosch's stadium will be sold out tomorrow. The club made available a second section for Ajax fans, which also will be very well filled. Many hundreds of Ajax fans will make the trip to Den Bosch on a cold weekday, to see the second team in action... This is truly unique. They really have 'built up' something.

Coaches of professional teams that were just eliminated by Young Ajax usually point out that many of the players have already played in the first team and that players such as Sikora and Boschker sometimes play for Young Ajax. This is a very weak excuse. It is untrue that Young Ajax is built around a number of available first team players. Quite on the contrary, really: at many other clubs high quality players such as Van der Vaart, Sneijder, De Jong and Heitinga would have still played in the second team. At Ajax, however, they are already playing for the first team - and no longer available for the reserves. The Young Ajax teams that eliminated professional opponents such as FC Twente, Stormvogels Telstar and Willem II usually had more Ajax A1 'loanees' in them than Ajax-1 players. FC Twente, at the time, was knocked out of the cup by a team with zero minutes of Eredivisie experience in total.

The development of Young Ajax is a very special addition to the 'Ajax family' feeling and it makes me very proud to be an Ajacied - in a way more than a good result in the Champions League. This could impossibly have happened anywhere else than at Ajax.

Thanks for your attention ;)

I am a little bit disappointed to see players like Wamberto playing for Young Ajax.
what do you think about it?

Given that Wamberto needs time and matching to get back to his old self I don't see the problem with him playing there. As AFCA1900 point out, it is a high quality team with many interesting players and with the current competition in the first team to get into the midfield I think Wamberto is better off getting matches and time to improve.

I agree, but what about the "spirit" of a young team, the spirit of Young Ajax, when a 29 yo player plays with them? I think that's against all the values and principles that AFCA1900 mentioned.

As far as I am aware the Young Ajax coaches strongly prefer to play with their own Young Ajax players. They sometimes use younger players from the first team (Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Obodai, etc.), but as far as I know older Ajax-1 players only play for Young Ajax as part of their recovery from an injury (we will probably see John O'Brien return to action in Young Ajax sometime soon), or when 'real' Young Ajax players have injuries or suspensions. The Young Ajax squad is fairly small. Last season it consisted of only eleven players or so, so they almost per definition needed 'guest' players from either Ajax A1 (usually), or younger guys from Ajax-1. Older guys like Wamberto and Boschker normally only play with Young Ajax if it's really necessary.

Six Amstel Cup third round fixtures are played tonight. The biggest surprise was the vistory of Top Class amateurs Hoek over BV Veendam (First Division): 2-0. Hoek will be in the bowl tomorrow night with Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord and twelve others...

Otherwise, no real surprises:

De Baronie (= the amateur side that eliminated Roda JC in the previous round) vs Heracles Almelo 0-2

Excelsior vs Sparta Rotterdam 1-2

Vitesse vs FC Volendam 4-0

SC Heerenveen vs Stormvogels Telstar 3-1

Currently in extra time: RBC Roosendaal vs FC Groningen 0-0

Three things. First, Thompson scored on 105' to give RBC a 1:0 win over Groningen and a place in the 1/8 finals..or Sweet Sixteen as we say in the States.Second, Heerenveen can thank its Ajax connection for the win tonight. Sibon had one and Knopper had two.Third,I say play Wamberto in Jong Ajax.He isn't getting a game in the first eleven anytime soon.If Ajax don't just want to let him go for less than nothing, best to showcase him.Also, heaven forbid a rash of injuries crop up again.better to have him somewhat fit and sharp than not at all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AFCA 1900
As far as I am aware the Young Ajax coaches strongly prefer to play with their own Young Ajax players...

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