So I finally went to an Ajax game after almost 6 years of living in this country. Yesterday night Ajax was playing their UEFA cup game against a very weak norwegian team called IK Start, so it was sure that it wouldnt be a sold-out stadium, which made it a whole lot easier to get tickets. So off I went with a couple of friends, and finally got to see the fantastic sphere at the Amsterdam ArenA.

At the end, it was an easy 4-0 win for the Amsterdamers and they assured themselves a place on the next phase of the cup (a long season which hopefully will end in Glasgow’s final around may next year).

For anyone interested you can see some pictures and a video by clicking on the image below.

Well, the tournament is in it’s semifinal stages right now… but frankly, it’s all over for quite some time now.

What a hatefull World Cup this turned out to be. No attractive football, no underdogs becoming the tournament’s surprise, the lowest goal average of all time only above that of Italia ’90, no shinning stars, the true fans not being able to get into the stadiums, and a whole bunch of corporate sponsor seats full of people who didn’t even know who was playing…. absolutely hateful!

Now we have an all european final (first time since 1982 and only the 4th in history) with the most hateful teams ever. The italians with their defensive destructive-football, Germany (who although very solid, would have gone no where if they were not the hosts), the all too hateful France with their lack of goals and their aging Zidane (more…)

It’s finally here! Tomorrow, the long 4 year wait will be over for all of us football fans in the world.. the World Cup is finally back!

Unfortunately for me, Colombia once again failed to qualify… so I’ll have to be rooting for another team thie time. Luckily, my second home managed to easily qualify for the tournament, and so Oranje will be coming back to the world stage after a short absence in Korea/Japan 2002.

Last time the dutch were on a World Cup in 1998, they were beaten by Brazil on the semifinals (those damn penalties have never favoured the dutch…) and this time they hope to finally break the curse and become world champions.

Remember, 32 years ago in Germany 74, they marveled the world with ‘Total football’ under the command of Johan Cruijff. 14 years later also in Germany, it was Marco van Basten who scored a precious goal against the USSR in the final to give the Netherlands their first European Cup.

It is now 18 years from that, and of course they are back in Germany, and van Basten is back… all the signs are there: Oranje is up for BIG STUFF in this World Cup!

Pd. in a moment of boredom, I digged out an old character I had come up with about 5 years ago, originally intended as a mascot for my then thriving football website. It was meant as a Colombian Condor who’s crazy for football and I made several versions of him wearing different international shirts.

So here’s the new & updated version of “Willy Valdera” for the coming World Cup, accompanied by Okkebas, the cartoon mascot I made for my old student house’s site (go check it out by the way www.okkebas.com)

Yup, 4… not 1, or 2 as I was expecting, but 4!

That’s the amount of times I saw Mark Schwarzer, Middlesbrough goalkeeper, having to reach into his own goal to pick up the ball in this years UEFA Cup Final against Sevilla. It was a fantastic game, worthy of a european final, and worthy of the trip to Eindhoven.

Olie and me were in Eindhoven around 6 pm, two and a half hours ahead of the game. Just about enough time to eat something, have a couple of beers and walk around the city’s heart watching the red and white sea of people (both teams wear red and white) dancing, drinking, and enjoying the festive sphere that only football can give to the masses.

We had never been in the Philips Stadion (renamed PSV Stadion for the final because of UEFA commercial reasons), but it turned out to be a fantastic venue for the match. We bought the cheapest tickets there were – €35 - and were expecting to be much further away from the field, but instead, we had just the perfect view of the match. Not too high, not too low.

After the match, it was an hour’s trip back home with the train, and the satisfaction of finally been in the stadium for a european final. Next goal for the coming years… the Champions League Final!!!

Beneath, a few pictures from the match. 

Since the final will be held here in the Netherlands, my friend Olie and I thought it would be a good idea to apply for the draw of the 6,000 ‘neutral supporters’ tickets, and we got 2 tickets!

Any person could apply to a maximum of 2 tickets, so we both did (to increase our chances) and in case we both got them, we would be taking the girls to the stadium… unfortunately for our ‘better halves’, I didn’t get chosen, so the 2 tickets Olie got will be having MY name and HIS.