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Holland debut for Van der Vaart; U.S. qualify for World
Cup
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Rafael Van der Vaart
[Photo: ANP] |
08 October: No Dutchman will remember Saturday's game
against Europe's ultimate small-timers Andorra (4-0) as a
special one. Holland was already eliminated for the 2002 World
Cup tournament and the game was boring. However, in the 66th
minute, Holland vs Andorra became an unforgettable game for one
Dutchman: Rafaël van der Vaart, who made his Oranje
debut, wearing his age as his shirt number: 18.
Van der Vaart thereby became the first Ajacied playing in
Oranje since Richard Witschge made his comeback in the
WC qualifier against Ireland, just over a full year
ago. Van der Vaart is the 96th Ajacied
in history to play for Holland. Gerard Fortgens wa
sthe first one on 19 March, 1911. Number 95 was Peter
Hoekstra (24 April, 1996) who never made it into Oranje
as a PSV player, but was offered a chance when he moved to
Ajax.
The most interesting question, however, is whether Van der
Vaart was the youngest débutant in the national team.
The answer: no. Three players were even younger than the
Heemskerk native, who was 18 years and 237 days old on
Saturday: Ajacied Gerald Vanenburg remains the youngest ever
Holland débutant, winning his first cap at age 18 and 40
days in 1982. PSV player Piet Giesen was 18 years and 79 days
and - more recently - Patrick Kluivert's debut was a fact as
the striker was 18 years and 139 days old.
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Wall of Oranje
[Photo: Ajax USA] |
Four more players made their Oranje debut at age 18,
but were slightly older than Van der Vaart. Nevertheless, it's
not a bad Dutch football elite to be part of: their names were
Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf and Wim
Kieft. Note that seven out of the eight players making their
Holland debut at age 18 were Ajacieden.
In a good old Ajax tradition, Rafaël van der Vaart will
receive his framed photograph from the board, which will be
added to the 1995 portraits of Oranje Ajacieden in the
Amsterdam ArenA.
AJAX INTERNATIONAL ROUND-UP
Rafaël van der Vaart was not the only Ajacied who had a
good weekend with his national team. The historic 7th of
October was also the day on which John O'Brien and the
U.S. national team qualified for the World Cup tournament, by
beating Jamaica, 2-1. Moore secured the victory for the
Americans by scoring from the penalty spot, only nine minutes
before the end. Moore had also scored the first U.S. goal (4'),
but Lawrence equalized for Jamaica only ten minutes later. John
O'Brien becomes the third Ajacied who is sure to travel to
Japan and South Korea, after Hatem Trabelsi (Tunisia) and
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden).
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had a good weekend as well,
scoring his first goal for the Swedish national team in their
3-0 victory over Azerbaidzjan. Zlatan was brought on in the
66th minute, as Svensson and Larsson had already given the
Swedes a comfortable 2-0 lead. Zlatan needed only three minutes
to add a third. Sweden was already certain to finish top in
their group.
Cristian Chivu was sidelined due to a one game
suspension, as his country Romania could not do better than a
disappointing 1-1 against Georgia. It did not really matter:
Italy won its game against Hungary (1-0) to qualify directly,
and Romania was already certain to finish at second. They will
now have to play Slovenia in the play-offs. Tomás
Galásek may be recovered from his injuries in time
to play the play-off games against Belgium with the Czech
Republic. The Czechs crushed Bulgaria, 6-0, but Denmark ripped
Iceland apart with the same score to claim the top slot in
their group.
Greece and Norway were already eliminated from
qualification, but Nikos Machlas and André
Bergd¢lmo played fine games with their respective
national teams. England needed a late free kick to level the
score against Greece (2-2) and condemn Germany to face Ukraine
in the play-offs. Norway booked a convincing victory in Armenia
(1-4), finishing off a bitterly disappointing qualification
campaign. Petri Pasanen and Finland will not participate
in Japan and South Korea, either. The Ajax defender was still
injured as his team notched a surprising 0- 0 draw away from
Germany. (MP)
Source: de Volkskrant
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