10 Mar 2011: Ajax - FC Spartak Moskva

[Kowalczyk]

Alright then. UEFA Europa League, 'Round of Sixteen', first leg!

Kick-off time is 21:05 CET.

Opponent: Футбольный клуб «Спартак» Москва, but let's just call 'em Spartak Moscow.

Very tough opponent, of course. Ajax's advantage is the fact that the Russian league runs from March to November, although this is about to change: the 2011 campaign will end in 2012 and must be regarded as a transitional season. As of 2012-2013 the Russian league will be an 'Aug/Sep - May affair' like most other European football leagues.

Anyway - that's not the case yet, which means that Spartak have not played a serious match since November. They play Ajax in what is their pre-season campaign.

The downside of playing a Russian side is, of course, the weather conditions in Russia. FC Twente played Rubin Kazan in the last round and it was absolutely impossible to play in Kazan. Instead, the game was played at Spartak's Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow (which has an artificial pitch!) and it was -17.2 degrees Celsius (for the Yanks, that's 1.04 Fahrenheit). Today (March 3rd) it's -20 degrees Celsius in Moscow, according to WeerOnline.nl (that's -4 degrees Fahrenheit).

I say: let's make sure we get a result at home...

K.

[Orange14]

The downside of playing a Russian side is, of course, the weather conditions in Russia. FC Twente played Rubin Kazan in the last round and it was absolutely impossible to play in Kazan. Instead, the game was played at Spartak's Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow (which has an artificial pitch!) and it was -17.2 degrees Celsius (for the Yanks, that's 1.04 Fahrenheit). Today (March 3rd) it's -20 degrees Celsius in Moscow, according to WeerOnline.nl (that's -4 degrees Fahrenheit).
K.

It was actually about 3 degrees warmer in Kazan the day of the Twente match (though that's still pretty damn cold). Let's hope for a heat wave in Moscow in two weeks.

[paladinby]

We play at Moscow on March 17, no need to worry about being too cold but the pitch won't be great anyway.

Some time ago Spartak managed to eliminate very impressive Ajax under Olsen. This is still remembered by people in Russia and around. I believe Blind was playing in those games (97-98 season) and probably Frank de Boer also.

Spartak has a bunch of good brazilian players including that dude Ari from AZ. However, they can very incosistant like any other russian football clubs.

[Kowalczyk]

I'm really, really looking forward to this one, by the way.

K.

[Amol]

Nice tactical preview on 11tegen11.

[Philippe]

Possible line up (Telegraaf) :
Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Blind; De Zeeuw, Enoh, Eriksen; Sulejmani, De Jong, Ebecilio.

[Flipster81]

Franky has said on ajax.nl that Anita will play so expect the same line up from Sunday.

Stekelenburg, van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Blind, de Zeeuw, Anita, Eriksen, Sulejmani, de Jong, Ebecilio.

[Kowalczyk]

GO AJAX! GO! GO! GO!



Oh, and here's one thing I wanted to say:

Русские: слишком выпитый играть в футбол
Эй Спартак! Мощный Аякс разрушит Вас!

K.

[Van basten]

GO AJAX! GO! GO! GO!



Oh, and here's one thing I wanted to say:

Мощный Аякс разрушит Вас!

K.

[aveslacker]

C'mon Ajax. Let's destroy these guys!

[souras84]

well lets just get through them for starters

[paladinby]

Nice Russian by Ko

We should beat them by a large margin - their fullbacks are joke.

[Amol]

Revenge for 1998!!

[souras84]

I am always cautious against Russian teams. They tend to be misleading you. I saw CSSK Moscow against paok and thought they never lived up to their expectations. However they got the ticket

[ajaxusa]

Does anybody have a stream URL to share? Is this on SOPcast?

[aveslacker]

sop://sop.rojadirecta.es:3912/106491

This one has worked well for me in the past.

[Cedric]

You can check this link : http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=1 ... art=sports

I'm on M and M4, PSV-Rangers right now.

[ally7th]

also on here- http://atdhenet.tv/

[ajaxusa]

Excellent, I'm in. GREAT start!

[Amol]

We're all over them. Great start so far. Just need to stay calm in the box and take better shots at goal.

[kezme44]

let's pay them back for then quarter final uefa cup exit years ago

[Tom_]

Highly entertaining so far. Need to get a goal out of all this pressure!

[Amol]

We are playing really well. Need to stay calm in and around the box.

[Orange14]

A bit unlucky not to be on the scoreboard. We have totally controlled the match in the first half and had some pretty good chances. I don't think much of Spartak's attack but that's probably more a result of them not having many matches since their winter break. Also good to see two of our former captains, Vermaelen and Huntelaar at the match!

[aveslacker]

I swear, it's like we're playing RKC or something. I have no idea how we don't have at least two goals by now. One thing, it annoys me that we don't seem to be chasing down rebounds in the box. This keeper can't hold on to the ball. Somebody needs to be patrolling the box for rebounds.

Still. We're playing very well. Anita, Vertonghen, Sulejmani are all amazing tonight.