In the grand scheme of things, how good is AJAX?

Discussion in 'Portland Timbers' started by The Professional Fan, May 26, 2011.

  1. The Professional Fan

    The Professional Fan Big League Scrub

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2008
    Messages:
    9,851
    Likes Received:
    6,746
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    The West Coast Portland
    I'm hearing that AJAX is something like the 30 time champion of the Dutch league. I'm assuming they're pretty good year in and year out. We were only down 1 -0 to them late in the match. Did AJAX play their best players? I didn't get a chance to see the game. That was a pretty solid effort by the Timbers, right?
     
  2. OSUBlazerfan

    OSUBlazerfan Writing Team

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2009
    Messages:
    6,906
    Likes Received:
    1,664
    Trophy Points:
    113
    To base any kind of comparisons on a international friendly would be a mistake. They just went through a long grueling season and then traveled 6000 miles and they still came out and controlled the game. The MLS (Timbers) are far away from teams like Ajax. The thing about European leagues is that they are very top heavy, and i bet the Timbers would have a good chance at staving off relegation in the Eredivese
     
  3. The Professional Fan

    The Professional Fan Big League Scrub

    Joined:
    Sep 22, 2008
    Messages:
    9,851
    Likes Received:
    6,746
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    The West Coast Portland
    Scott VanPelt was talking about the idea of adopting relegation in the NFL/NBA/MLB. Obviously it would never happen, but it was an interesting conversation and a wild concept.
     
  4. agoo

    agoo Member

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2007
    Messages:
    2,868
    Likes Received:
    12
    Trophy Points:
    38
    In the grand scheme of things, Ajax is one of the great sides in the history of the game. Recently, they haven't been competitive in Europe because the money simply isn't in the Eredivisie to keep their players and their top prospects usually move on quickly and have the prime of their careers in the more lucrative leagues like England, Spain, Italy, and Germany. To give you somewhat of an idea of the youth set-up of Ajax, nine of the 23 Dutch players at the 2010 World Cup spent some time in the Ajax youth program and seven of those nine made their professional debuts with Ajax. In the last year, 15 of the 46 players called up to a Dutch squad were Ajax trained.

    MLS could learn a lot from Ajax and their youth development system, which is really a model system for the world. You can check out more about it in this blog post by Greg Seltzer. One thing that you can notice if you watch the video is that the coaches and players who put on the clinic are used to working with kids. Whether its the older goalkeeping coach or the 19 year-old striker, they all have a certain way about them which they probably learned from the players who played for Ajax before them and the fact that they've been running clinics like that around Amsterdam from the minute they turn pro.

    In terms of the significance of this match, I wouldn't put much in it. Ajax is at the end of their season while the Timbers are approcahing midseason form. Several of their top players played and the summary of the match on the Timbers' site says that Ajax dominated possession and other posters have implied that the 2-0 scoreline made the match look closer than it really was.

    In general, its hard to put much stock in these friendlies. You really can't compare Portland to Ajax based on that match since both sides were more concerned with staying healthy than the result. The friendlies are about exposure, making a buck, and raising the profile of the MLS here and abroad.
     
  5. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,253
    Likes Received:
    807
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
    to piggyback on Agoo's comments on Ajax's youth system, I read this outstanding article (very loooooong) about Ajax's youth system. How A Soccer Star is Made Like I said its very long, but very good and I too hope that MLS learns from youth systems like Ajax's
     

Share This Page