It was an elevating week for Dutch football :
It all started with the rumour that PSV would be interested in Ajax star Rafael van der Vaart. PSV manager, Guus Hiddink, said that he would be interested in signing the Ajax youngster if he felt unhappy with his role at Ajax. As soon as Van der Vaart heard about the rumours he told everybody that he would never play for PSV out of respect for the Ajax fans.
This was also the day that Ajax presented a new manager. Danny Blind (captain of the 1995 Champions League winning ajax team) will from now on be in charge of Ajax. The match against PSV will be his debut as headcoach for Ajax and as headcoach in professional football in general.
Two weeks ago, the famous Dutch coach Rinus Michels died. He was responsible for the introduction of the famous Dutch "Totaal Voetbal" and he was succesful at Ajax and the Dutch national team (1988). As the match against AZ was postponed he will be remembered before the kick-off of Ajax-PSV.
And then it was friday. The day that PSV heard that their opponent in the Champions League Quarter Finals will be Olympique Lyon and also the day that Marco van Basten announced the names of the players he would use for the match of the Dutch national team against Romania. To everybody's surprise he decided to give Ajax talent Maduro a chance to prove himself in the national team. Surprising, because Maduro played just 3 matches in the first squad of Ajax! Some experienced PSV players, like Andre Ooijer, didn't get an invitation. In Eindhoven they aren't too happy with the Amsterdam connection at the KNVB headquarters.
Last but not least, the title race. If PSV manages to leave the ArenA with 3 points (again) it will be 11 points ahead of their Amsterdam rivals. With 8 matches to go this would mean the end of the title race for Ajax. |