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Entry of:15-12-99

Ajax this week:
Ajax allows v.Nistelrooy to make a comeback.This is probably gonna be the headlines on the newspapers tomorrow. Cause that is what happened. And to stay honest, that is also what was to be expected. On the 15th grassmat Ajax played powerless and the defence, tonight with Verlaat van Halst,Chivu and Nieuwenburg showed some terrible mistakes and the shot from v.Nistelrooy who missed allready in the 30th second of the game predicted a massacre. It did not come that far but the final score is nevertheless cristalclear. Nistelrooy scored in the 37th minute, a very nice on in the 45th minute and a header in the 50th minute. And that is when it hit Ajax that they were loosing, way too late. Ajax did come back in the game after a goal of Knopper in the 57th minute and it seemed to be going well, but in the 64th minute van Halst foolishly got his second yellow card leaving the Ajaxsquad with 10 players and no chances of winning the game. The PSV squad took the win home for the 4th time in 5 visits to Ajax in the Arena. A bad day for Ajax who is now put on a 3 points gap from PSV. Wouters head is on the block, question is what will happen to it...
Next game: The last game before the winterpause is the awaymatch against de Graafschap next sunday, December 19th. Graafschap plays a very mediocre season but are at their strongest at home in the far east of the country. Normally a win for Ajax, but in the dubious form Ajax is in now, anything could happen, strange things may happen in Doetinchem. Let's just hope Ajax gets back in the rails before more damage is done..
Note for Ajax: 4

Rest of the competition:
Since Ajax started loosing a few weeks ago the top has lost the gap it had with the rest of the league. With the score tonight PSV is 3 points away from Ajax and only 4 points away from the no.3, which is Heerenveen. They won tonight at home from RKC, with 4-1 with a hattrick from Lurling.  Vitesse took care of Willem II in Arnhem tonight, winning with 3-1 with 2 goals of van Hooydonk who still saw the gap on the topscorerlist growing with 1 in comparison to van Nistelrooy. Furthermore there were 2 smaller games with Sparta taking the win at home against den Bosch,3-2 and NEC winning at home from MVV, 1-0. Roda JC-Cambuur L was cancelled and Feyenoord plays on thursday at home against de Graafschap. The (subtop)is huge right now.
PSV is loose with 38, then Ajax 35 and Heerenveen 31, but a large group follows, with 31 that is AZ and Vitesse, with 30 FC Twente and with 29 Feyenoord,Willem II, Roda JC and RKC
10 teams within 9 points that is slightly amazing, considering the fierce ruling of topclubs in the previous years, but certainly it is exiting to watch the league..
Note for the competition: 7

Moment of the week:
The hattrick of van Nistelrooy, allthough it is against Ajax, is a moment on its own. The topscorer who was under fire the last few weeks because he did not score silenced the whole audience with a goodlooking hattrick, and that shows that van Nistelrooy is a big player, a very big player. To be honest I would trade Machlas for Van Nistelrooy as soon as possible. But van Nistelrooy will not remain in Holland next year and that is a pitty cause judging by the way he played tonight, the Dutch competition will loose another great player.Furthermore the draws for Euro 2000 and WorldChampionships qualifying were good. With the World qualify Holland plays Portugal,
Ireland,Estonia,Cyprus and Andorra, and that is certainly a possibility to become groupwinner.
Euro 2000 draw brought Czech Republic, France and Denmark. Tough group but Holland plays at home and shall go through I think. There will be a split opinion in me, since I am half Czech, but Holland should win that one as well, cause otherwise I have tickets for a final without Holland and that would not be so much fun..

Willem ter Haar
(congratulating PSV as the good sport he is. Revenge will be ours in February(((I hope))))

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