14 Feb 2013: Ajax - FC Steaua București

[Kowalczyk]

UEFA Europa League - Round of 32 - Leg 1.

Early kick-off at the Amsterdam ArenA: 19.00 CET.

K.

[Manneken Pis]

A little background on Steaua's owner:

Controversial Steaua owner gets suspended jail term

Reuters, Monday February 11 2013

BUCHAREST, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Steaua Bucharest owner Gigi Becali has been handed a suspended three-year prison sentence for illegally detaining three people, a Romanian court said on Monday.
In the early hours of Jan. 27, 2009, police were called to a scuffle when witnesses saw a group of people shove three people into the trunk of a car after blocking traffic.
According to the police report, the three were taken to a house on the outskirts of Bucharest, were detained for three hours and accused of taking a black Mercedes owned by Becali.
Becali, a flamboyant former shepherd, is a well-known figure in the Balkan country because of his reputation for straight talking and charity actions on behalf of the poor and local Orthodox churches.
He won a seat in parliament for the governing leftist Social Liberal Union (USL) in a December election, which prompted criticism from some rights groups because of his outspoken stance on gay rights and minorities. It was unclear if he would retain his seat after the conviction.
The 54-year-old, who also served in the European Parliament from 2009 before resigning to take his seat in the national assembly, said he might move from Romania with his family.
"Romania is no longer a safe place," Becali, on a holiday in Dubai, told local tv channel RTV. "I do not want to see my family crying."
The three-year sentence was suspended for eight years and Becali was ordered to report to the police every month.
Steaua, who won the European Cup in 1986 by beating Barcelona in the final, visit Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League's round of 32 first leg on Thursday.
The Bucharest-based side top the Romanian standings with 47 points from 19 points, 10 points ahead of second-placed FC Astra.

[Cruijff]

We're gonna kick their asses.

[Kowalczyk]

I read a few Dutch articles on that guy, Becali, today. He is one serious homophobic, xenophobic, racist lunatic.

So yeah, let's beat them.

K.

[Manneken Pis]

I read a few Dutch articles on that guy, Becali, today. He is one serious homophobic, xenophobic, racist lunatic.
K.

Oh yes, he's madder than a box of frogs....

[Van basten]

Working links?

[Jojo]

This one seems to work fine:
http://88.80.5.80/w00t/20130213/vv511ba ... 24811.html

[Van basten]

This one seems to work fine:
http://88.80.5.80/w00t/20130213/vv511ba ... 24811.html

thanx.

[Orange14]

Nice free kick from Eriksen and clinical by Toby!

[SPL]

lovely header by Toby now lets get some more

[Tom_]

We've been pretty good from set pieces this season, eh?

[Tom_]

Surely that had to be red...! What a tackle

[Manneken Pis]

Do we get Bulgarian officials against Romanian opposition in the second leg aswell???

[Orange14]

Decent enough first half, particularly how we are pressing Steaua all over the field. Got a bit lucky on the one dangerous cross when nobody was there to put it past Vermeer (who looks like he's still hurt from the collision). Good to have Sigthorsson in the middle finally. He's really doing well at getting shots off quickly. Weird officiating as de Jong's shot was clearly deflected by the keeper but we didn't get a corner. Cuenca was clearly fouled but no call. Big thing is to get another goal and keep a clean sheet.

[SPL]

trying to break Eriksen's ankle has to be a red doesn't it!! Shame the Siggy goal did not stand as it was lovely football by Ajax . The Romanians still look like they can score so we will need to concentrate in the 2nd half.

[SPL]

Cillessen is replacing Vermeer.Hope the injury is minor as our no 3 is V d Hart aged 19 and he was out injured last week

[Tom_]

One thing I noticed in the first half was that our midfield moves the ball a lot quicker but is also more vulnerable without Poulsen... expect he'll be on at some point if we stay ahead.

[Tom_]

Great goal! Excellent hold-up by Kolbeinn, how nice to see someone in an Ajax shirt out-muscling defenders. Good pass from de Jong too.

[Orange14]

This one seems to work fine:
http://88.80.5.80/w00t/20130213/vv511ba ... 24811.html

This keeps breaking up, anyone got a better stream?

[Jojo]

try this one - eng:

http://88.80.5.80/w00t/20130214/vv511d2 ... 25340.html

[martinkohout]

Cillesen's come up big twice - we don't seem to be able to kill this one off. Really don't want to give Steaua an away goal at the end....

[Orange14]

Decent enough win in the end with two nice goals. Steaua will miss two of the better players on the return leg because of suspension. Vermeer was sitting on the bench for the 2nd half so maybe he's not hurt too badly but wouldn't be surprised if Cillessen gets the game this weekend just to be safe.

[Blind3]

2:0 . We'll take it. Could've had a few more and Cillessen kept the sheet clean. Sounds typically Ajax this year. On to Mandemakers and RKC.

[SPL]

agree decent win and hopefully we should get through next week.Siggy played well and it was good to see a proper striker playing ,Siem is much better back in midfield

[King Litti]

This result puts us in the drivers seat. If we score one in Bucharest they would need four. Maybe it would be even sensible to rest some key players in Bucharest as we have a huge game against Twente in the league right after that.

Edit: It's actually Ado that we face after the second leg. Twente is a week later.