Here is a translation of Ajax.nl's profile of Ajax USA's
recent visit to Amsterdam:
With a wink of Johan Cruijff
Jim McGough, founder of Ajax USA, was this week in Amsterdam.
The American organized a trip for the supporters from the
United States with highlighs like visiting Ajax-Vitesse and
Ajax-NAC. But the real highlight turned out to be the Monday
evening at De Toekomst, where no one less than Johan
Cruijff winked at Jim.
The trip started disappointing, since the game
Ajax-Vitesse got cancelled due to a lack of police force, as
a result of the foot-and-mouth disease.
But Monday made up for everything. First there was a warm
reception at Ajax, and after that the eleven-member group
went to the training pitch. The fans didn't have to stay
behind the fence but were allowed on the pitch itself.
There they met the players and coach Co Adriaanse. And
that was only the beginning of a memorable day. During their
lunch at the Soccerworld bar a bus stopped next to the
entrance. And this wasn't just an ordinary bus, but the
vehicle of the Dutch National Team. And yes, there they were:
Louis van Gaal and his internationals.
The Americans could hardly believe what happened to them
next. Of course they had to take pictures together with the
former Ajax coach. Of course they wanted to be captured for
posterity together with Frank de Boer and the other players.
[Note: We did take pictures with van Gaal, and with Van der
Sar and a few others, but not with Frank de Boer. -ed.]
The unexpected happenings were of course fantastic. "But
still," Jim says "I don't know if this is a good thing to
happen on our first trip to Amsterdam. If I tell them all
about this back in the States, people who join us next year
will probably expect this to happen again. And this occurred
so 'all of a sudden' that this won't happen again."
It couldn't have been a better day so far, but when the
fans heard about the evening match at De Toekomst
between the reserves of Ajax and De Graafschap, they again
got really enthusiastic.
They saw 5 goals from Ajax, of which the last one was
scored by their own John O'Brien. But that wasn't the
only thing that was so spectaculair that evening. "Johan
Cruijff was also at De Toekomst," Jim reports
enthusiastically. "He was standing on the balcony. Of course
I took a picture of him, and he winked at me."
After traveling to see the Dutch National Team in the PSV
stadium, the group returned in Amsterdam on Thursday (sic).
At De Toekomst, Jim and Amsterdammer Menno Pot - the
translator of the news on the Ajax-USA website - were able to
interview Kees Zwamborn, head of the Ajax training
school.
"In America Ajax is the symbol of youth trainings," the
American from California knows. "A lot of children play
soccer. And just like you take your daughter to Russian
ballet if she wants to learn ballet, you want your child to
play in an Ajax-way if he wants to play soccer."
But how do Americans in a non-soccerminded country get
their passion for Ajax? "In the mid-nineties you could see a
lot of Ajax games on television in the United States, since
we didn't have our own professional league at that time,"
McGough explains. "Of course I fell in love with Ajax. At my
university there were also a lot of people from Amsterdam and
they once took me to De Meer when I visited them.
Besides that, I saw Ajax two times in New Jersey. But
Ajax-NAC was the first game I saw in De ArenA."
His love for Ajax grew and Ajax-USA started actually as a
joke (sic. I actually called it "a lark"). "First I only had
a mailing list, but with that list I could get content for
the site."
On Thursday they had a meeting with Co Adriaanse. The Ajax
coach took his time for Jim and Menno and gave them the
opportunity to ask all their questions.
So far for their meetings backstage at Ajax. On Friday
they saw the match Ajax-NAC. "Marvellous!" McGough stated
about the narrow victory. "For twenty minutes, they played
very well." (BV)
