Dutch clubs in UEFA Cup

We did ok… It’s only the UEFA Cup but that’s a level where our clubs maybe belong. I have a hard time seeing Ajax, PSV and AZ winning the CL (AZ could if they could get a consistent season of specatular dominating football) but the others tend to want to play the same type of tight football which will always result in defeat at the end of the day…

Look at PSV… They can play attractive football, but if they’re up against CL opponents coach Koeman “builds in more insurance” by leaving out the likes of Assaiti and Perez… You can expect a boring game where PSV keeps the likes of Chelsea, AC Milan and Porto at bay for a bit, but at the end of the day these teams will win… Ajax, same thing. Only the team with the skills and the coach with the balls (Cruyff, van Gaal, Adriaanse) to fire on all cylinders will have a wee bit chance…

But alas, PSV won the championship and Adriaanse is raking in the oil dollars while JC plays golf… Is it ever going to happen…

In the meantime, somewhere in Groningen the local FC kept Fiorentina at 1-1 after having led 1-0. Up and coming coach Ron Jans is doing well, even without Suarez.

Who didn’t play for Ajax against Zagreb - fatigue - but the Sons of Gods did win their away game with 0-1. Goal Rommedhal, assist Huntelaar. Ajax played dreadful, but “who cares…” and all that crap. Henk ten Cate can stay a bit longer now…

AZ had a tough match against unknown Portugal side Pacos de Ferreira. AZ is still in the boondocks and couldn’t impress the lesser Portugeuse club. A late goal by sub Pocognoli gave AZ the victory but Louis can’t have been happy with the poor performance. Goalie Waterman needed help from the crossbar and defender Steinsson in the second half to keep his net clean. And this weekend, Ajax meets AZ so more dark clouds for Van Gaal.

Heerenveen took charge against Helssinborg, the club where living legend Henke Larsson plays. Heerenveen won 5-3. which doesn’t mean the next round is a cert… It must have been an exciting match. Gerald Sibon scored twice for Heerenveen.

FC Twente had a tough match against Spanish side Getafe but showed Europe it belongs at this level. In the 60est minute though, Braafheid was red-carded meaning Twente had 30 minutes to go with ten men. In the dying minutes Getafe struck gold, 1-0. Twente has to brush that score line away in two weeks in Enschede.

Bayern played Turkish side Belenenses and had a very tough night. It was Luca Toni who scored the only goal after a Mark van Bommel assist, 1-0.