"Stekelenburg is number one," says Koeman
06 August: And the winner is... Maarten Stekelenburg! The 21
year-old Haarlem native will be Ajax's first goalkeeper for the
2004-2005 season. Head-coach Ronald Koeman decided this
after having granted Stekelenburg and last season's #1, Bogdan
Lobont, almost exactly the same number of 'action
minutes' in pre-season. Apparently, the 'battle of the
goalkeepers' was such an important issue that Koeman decided to
announce the winner officially today.
Maarten Stekelenburg, who will turn 22 next month, has
learned in previous seasons that patience is a virtue. Having
made his first team début in the Johan Cruyff Shield
final against PSV on 11 August 2002, Stekelenburg had a spell
in Ajax-1 that season due to injuries of Bogdan Lobont and Joey
Didulica. However, he dropped back to Young Ajax as the older
goalkeepers recovered.
Last season, coach Ronald Koeman said repeatedly that
Stekelenburg was "getting closer" to becoming Ajax's first man,
but the Ajax boss still opted for Bogdan Lobont throughout the
season. In spite of the fact that he wasn't a starter for Ajax,
Stekelenburg was named as a candidate to join the Dutch
national team to Portugal for Euro 2004. Holland boss Dick
Advocaat, however, chose for experience and selected Sander
Westerveld as Holland's #3 goalie.
Stekelenburg's reward came this summer, as Koeman announced
that he was going to give the tall Haarlemmer a serious chance
to conquer a starting slot. The pre-season campaign of summer
2004 was going to be a man-to-man battle between Lobont and
Stekelenburg, in which no-one started with an advantage. The
Amsterdam Tournament helped Koeman to make up his mind: Lobont
made a dreadful mistake against Panathinaikos on Friday,
whereas Stekelenburg had several stunning saves and was the
undisputed 'Man of the Match' against Arsenal on Sunday.
Koeman's choice for Stekelenburg raises the question what
will happen to Bogdan Lobont now. According to several Dutch
newspapers Ajax's goalkeepers' coach, Will Coort, has given the
Romanian international the advice to opt for a loan spell
elsewhere. The Romanian's contract at the ArenA will
not expire until the summer of 2008. If Lobont
goes, several Ajax goalkeepers will move one place up in the
hierarchy. It would effectively make veteran newcomer Hans
Vonk #2. Behind him, youngsters Robert Zwinkels, Henrik
Moisander and last season's 'Ajax Talent of the Season',
Kenneth Vermeer. (MP)
Source: Ajax.nl
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