Tuesday, August 2
I forgot to mention that on Monday, August 1 before we went to Ajax, we went to watch the first team of ADO den Haag train. They train at Zuiderpark in Den Haag, which is where the first team stadium used to be. They tore down three sides of the stands, but the main stand is still there and they train on the former game field, which is beautiful. The youth complex of ADO is adjacent and the area is a bit run down, but due for a major renovation in the near future as soon as the economy picks up. ADO's next game is Thursday, so we were interested in seeing what type of training they would have. They are in the second round of the Europa League and they lost in Cypress to Nicosia 0-3 the week before, which meant that they had a big mountain to climb in the return game on Thursday. The team came out and knocked the ball around and then they went off the field to a small side pitch to do their running so that they wouldn't tear up the nice field. The coach proceeded to talk to the team for nearly 40 minutes, while we just sat in the bleachers and watch from 70 yards away. They then warmed up, did some running with speed ladders and cones and flags and then played a little Rondo (keep away) before heading back to the game pitch.
For the actual training, they did a great little passing exercise, and then they played 6v6 with GK's on a 40 x 40 yd field with 1 minute games with high intensity an then 1 minute rest. The training seemed to lack sharpness and urgency, which is the opposite of what I preach to my SSU players. Luckily we are going to Ajax the next day so that we can see the difference.
The next day we woke up and headed to Toekomst (the future), which is the where the youth of Ajax and the professional team train. Several years ago when we used to watch the first team train, they used to train right next to the Ajax Arena and the youth teams would train about a half mile away at Toekomst, but there was a disconnect between the youth and professional side of the club so they moved the pros over to the youth complex. Mind you, it is a pretty unbelievable complex with at least eight fields, locker rooms and a huge club house and canteen and a stadium that seats 5,000 people. The field that they used to train at has been turned into a parking lot!
In Holland (and actually most countries in Europe and the rest of the world for that matter!) soccer is organized differently. The game is built around clubs with each club having youth teams and a first team which, depending on the level of the club, could be professional or amateur or both. Nearly all of the clubs also have fields and a club house with a restaurant and bar and locker rooms and meeting rooms. Even some of the small clubs that we have been to, for example Escamp where were are training, have a beautiful game stadium with seating and sponsor boards around it and then they also have several training fields, some of which are usually artificial turf. Escamp also has 12 locker rooms so that they can handle a large number of teams at once and upstairs they have their offices and a bar/restaurant with a balcony that over looks the game field. They play at a low level, but they have a beautiful complex that 99% of all youth clubs in the US would love to have and they also have a first team. Players play for the club as youth players and when they turn 19, they can play for the first team or adult team, but if they are better than the level they can move to a higher level club, for example Quick den Haag, which is amateur or ADO den Haag, which is a professional club that plays in the Dutch first division. But I digress!
The Ajax players came out and warmed up with the conditioning coach and they did all kinds of movement prep, jumping and coordination, running with a harness while teammate connected to a teammate who offered some resistance for strength training. Once they got warm, the did some abdo work with the ball and some basic skills with the ball before settling into a great passing exercise. The training was a lot sharper than at ADO and it was great for our players to see. We constantly coach our guys to pass the ball harder, but after watching Ajax train, they now understand exactly what we mean! It helps that the head coach is Frank de Boer (former Ajax and Barcelona great) and his assistant is Dennis Bergkamp! (former Ajax and Arsenal star)!
After the passing, they quickly moved onto goal and played a 2v2 game in the penalty box with a gk behind the 2 defenders and two counter goals for the defensive team to attack when they won the ball. It was very quick and intense and there were come great goals. They built it up to 3v3, 4v4 and finally 5v4. They cooled down and then some players stuck around to hit some shots. It was also a treat that Edwin van der Saar was training with Ajax that day. He was in town for his testimonial game at the Ajax Arena the following day. The game is sold out, but luckily Jay van Veelen arranged for tickets several weeks ago so everybody is able to go.
Later that day we had two games. In the first game we played SV Erasmus and although it was a little sloppy, we won 3-2 on two goals from Justin Ferreira and a goal from Brandon de la Cruz. We moved the ball well and created a lot of chances and could have won by more if we had finished some sitters.
In the second game, we played Oranje Wit and they were impressive. They were all pretty skinny, but very quick and decisive and they know how to play the 1-4-3-3 and how to play against it. They really pressed us and it took us a little while to settle in. Once we did the game was back and forth and very exciting to watch. The first goal was unfortunate because they had the ball and Ebby Lombardi had some blood on his face and the referee waved him off the field in the run of the play and everyone was momentarily distracted and we lost our concentration and they scored. We came right back and Taylor Varnadore scored to tie it up. They scored right before half to make it 2-1, which was disappointing. In the second half they scored again to make it 1-3 and then again to make it 1-4. We regrouped and Varnadore scored again and Brian Angel scored on a brilliant free kick to make it 4-3 with about 5 minutes left. We had several chances to score and in the last minute we had a corner kick and pushed everybody up and they cleared it and countered and one of their strikers scored a brilliant goal from forty yards.
In Holland they have a particular way of playing. Most teams play a 1-4-3-3. They play ball possession soccer and they try to press and win the ball back right away when they lose it. If you have seen our SSU Men's team play, we play the same way. We have been bringing Frans Hoek and his Dutch staff over to the US for camps for 16 years and my brothers and I have traveled to Holland to learn for the last 12-15 years. Every team we played was very organized and could move the balls and play well as a team. Teams that were less athletic than us were very tough because they know how to pressure and make it difficult, but then they have the ball they work together to move the ball. When we pressed them up the field, if one guy was late to shift and mark then they would find the open player right away. Even when we had great pressure on the ball and our players were well positioned they would play back to their goal keeper and he would collect the ball and play a 50 yard ball to the weak side wing. We had moments of looking the same, but it was hard for us to keep it up for 90 minutes. It was a big eye opener for everyone, including the coaches. It also shows us how far behind the United States is. We headed back to the hotel to get some sleep so that we could enjoy the Van der Saar testimonial the next day.
Wednesday, August 3rd
We went into the Ajax Arena for the testimonial game. As part of the festivities there were three games on the schedule. The first was the Under 14's of Ajax against the U14's of Manchester United, the second was the 1995 Champions League team of Ajax against the 98 Dutch National team and the third was the current Ajax squad against an all-star team of players that had played with Van der Saar during his career..
Van der Saar's son plays in goal for the Man U team and even though a lot of fans would show up later for the main games, there were at least 30,000 people cheering the boys on. Man U went up 1-0 before Ajax came back to got ahead 2-1 and the game ended with a late Man U goal and a 2-2 tie, which seemed fitting. The Man U team was bigger and very skilled individually with several outstanding players that caught the eye, while the Ajax team played brilliant football and seemed more tactically advanced. Once they settled in, they dominated the last 3/4's of the game and would have won if not for the counter goal in the waning minutes.
The second game was incredible. I won't name all of the players but Kluivert, Kanu, Finidi George, Rikyaard, Overmars, Danny Blind, the De Boer brothers and others (no Litmanen) played against the 98 team with Bergkamp, Cocu, Zenden, Van Bronkhurst, Van Hoidonk, and de Jong and others. Even though they were all older, it was a great game and the Arena was filling up and people were cheering and enjoying themselves. The Ajax team was coached by Louis Van Gaal and the Dutch team was coached by Gus Hiddink. For those of you that have been coming to the Hoek camps and clinics at SSU for a long time, both Frans Hoek and Gerrit van der Lem were brought onto the field with Van der Saar.
The final game was quite a spectacle. In Europe, after a top player retires their club throws a testimonial match and a bunch of their former teammates show up and play and in the old days when the players didn't earn much, it was a way for the club to raise some money for the retired player. However, this time the money from the game was going to Van der Saar's nonprofit foundation. They introduced the "Dream Team" and it included players from Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United, including, Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Mark Vidic, Les Ferdinand, Phil Neville, Luis Saha, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Dirk Kuyt, Hetiga and more. The Allstars went up 1-0 before Ajax tied it up. Dennis Bergkamp subbed in and even though he is in his early 40's, he got the ball wide and played a beautiful ball into Saha who layer it off and Bergkamp slotted it for the winning goal. He must have loved to be back on the pitch again and the day before he was giving tips to the Ajax players at training and here he was scoring against them in front of 55,000 fans! The hard core Ajax fans behind the goal kept serenading him during the game and he would turn around and wave and clap for them.
With about 8 minutes to go, the 4th official held up the substitute number with #1 on it and then the celebration started. Van der Saar came jogging off of the field and all of the players came in and everybody started going crazy. They brought his son out to take a penalty kick off of him and of course Edwin made the save and everybody was standing and cheering. The players lined up and they presented him with the European Cup that he had won with Ajax had won in '95 (I'm sure that he gave it back, but it was a symbolic gesture). His wife and son and daughter came out and he slowly walked around the field waving and thanking the crowed. Everyone was yelling and cheering and people were even crying. There were pockets of Man United fans singing Van der Saar songs in English and of course the Dutch and Holland fans kept singing for him. The lead singer from Simply Red came out and sang "Holding Back the Years" while he walked around and when they showed him on the big video screen you could see him holding back the tears. it was very emotional as 55,000 fans showed their love and appreciation for him.When he finished circling the field, they gave him a microphone and he spoke for about 5 minutes. It was in Dutch, but it was on national TV so Jay told me the next day that he had thanked a bunch of people and the fans and spoke a bit about his career. After he left the field, we all filed out of the Arena and headed back to the vans to return to Den Haag. What a day and I think that Ajax has 26 new fans!
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