Ajax

On Thursday, Eredivisie champions Ajax face Austria's Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League's first knockout round.

In truth, the fact that the Austrians visit Amsterdam with genuine hopes of progression—combined with the lack of other Eredivisie representatives, AZ aside, in the latter stages of European competition—highlights that Dutch football is currently suffering. For that reason, it is important for Frank de Boer's men to advance.

With the likes of Juventus, Tottenham, Napoli and Shakhtar Donetsk still in the competition, Ajax's chances of reaching the final are minimal. However, falling at such a premature stage would come as a bitter blow for one of Europe's most successful clubs.

Ajax boast four European Cups to their name and would have had no trouble defeating a side of Salzburg's caliber in years gone by, especially over two legs. The Austrians might be comfortably strolling to their domestic title, but that is indicative of a poor division rather than a fantastic Red Bull side.

Then again, the same could be said for Ajax's position at the top of Eredivisie.

Quite worryingly, if Ajax were to be knocked out by the Austrians, the fallout could be detrimental to the Eredivisie in general. With no 'big name' Dutch representatives reaching the last 16 of either European competition, it is hard to see why any top players would want to stay in the country. Likewise, it would be difficult for clubs to recruit imports of any real quality.

While it is great to see such a high percentage of Dutch youngsters given a chance, an absence of genuine stars would inevitably have a negative impact on the domestic game and could potentially see the gap between Eredivisie and other top European leagues increase even more.  

Although de Boer's side are the favourites to qualify, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the Austrians prevail. Salzburg might not boast any household names, but they are a decent enough outfit, and confidence will be high, as they are on a run of seven successive victories in their domestic league. Additionally, they won all six of their Europa League Group C encounters, conceding just twice in the process.

Meanwhile, Ajax dropped out of the Champions League. In their defence, they were dealt a tough draw and were never fancied to progress from a group that contained Barcelona and AC Milan.

Regardless of Dutch football's poor state, winning three consecutive titles doesn't come easy, and the fact that Ajax are favourites to retain the Eredivisie crown yet again shows that they are still doing something right. In Siem de Jong, Ricardo van Rhijn and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, there are still some very talented players plying their trade at the Amsterdam Arena. The emergence of Davy Klaassen suggests that the club—and indeed country—will continue to produce top stars in the coming years.

The challenge of Salzburg will not be easy, but it is one Ajax should be able to overcome. For the sake of Dutch football, it's important that they do.

Ajax head coach Frank de Boer could be set to depart the Amsterdam Arena this summer as speculation on the 43-year-old's future intensifies with strong links to the Tottenham Hotspur job.

The former Netherlands star reportedly told the BBC that he is “very happy here at Ajax” but did concede that he would like to manage in the English Premier League one day, citing Tottenham and Liverpool as potential destinations.

With Liverpool going strong under the management of Brendan Rodgers, that job seems unlikely for the foreseeable future. However, with Tottenham still looking for a long-term successor to Tim Sherwood, a switch to North London could be a genuine possibility.

Earlier this week, we reported how de Boer could be on the brink of creating history by becoming the first coach to lead Ajax to four consecutive Eredivisie titles and after results this week that now looks an even stronger possibility, as Vitesse lost even more ground on the leaders. Should the Dutch legend complete the quadruple of league titles, then you have to wonder what else he has to achieve at the Amsterdam Arena.

Domestically, Ajax are still dominating but the truth is that the current squad simply doesn't have the talent to compete for continental glory so you could hardly blame de Boer should he seek a new challenge.

The former Barcelona player also stated that he'd previously turned down both the Liverpool and Tottenham jobs, and revealed that he was offered the Spurs role following the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas. With a place in history just a few months away, it's not that surprising that de Boer opted to remain at his current club.

Meanwhile, Tottenham are openly very complimentary of the 43-year-old and will see his experience of Champions League football as a significant factor, as the North London club are desperate to return to Europe's elite competition.

Although Sherwood has been given a contract until the summer of 2015, Daniel Levy would have no problems replacing the current manager.

Amidst speculation that Ajax assistant manager Dennis Bergkamp could be set to take over the vacant Swansea role this summer may be the perfect time for de Boer to move on. Assuming the Amsterdam giants do make it league title 33, the ex-player will leave Amsterdam on good terms and will depart with the club's blessing.

Could it be next step Tottenham?

They might be the sixth most successful club in European Cup history, but Dutch side Ajax are a shadow of their former self.

Next year will mark 20 years since the Amsterdam club’s last Champions League triumph and, as they prepare for a Europa League tie against Salzburg later this month, those glory days of yesteryear now seem a lifetime ago.

Domestically, though, Ajax are just 13 matches away from entering the record books as one of the greatest squads the Dutch giants have ever produced.

If they can retain their Eredivisie crown, then it will incredibly be the first time that the club have ever won four consecutive titles and as a result this current crop will have to go down as one of the club’s greatest.

History beckons. Here’s why they can do it.

Inspirational de Boer

Having helped the club to five Eredivisie titles during an illustrious playing career, which included a hat-trick of championships between 1994 and 1996, de Boer is now just a dozen-and-one games from leading the club to their first ever haul of four consecutive crowns.

A legend of the game, de Boer additionally won a La Liga title in his days at Barcelona whilst also earning more caps than any other outfield player for the Netherlands national side. His managerial career has started in similar vein and it would be quite fitting if he could write yet another chapter in the history of a club he represented more than 400 times as a player.

The Ajax philosophy of play is engraved in de Boer’s soul, whilst his expertise and experience are surely a great help to his young, yet talented squad. At 43, his insight is still very much relevant and he can part that wisdom on to his players as he continues to build a team capable of extending their dominance of Dutch football.

It seems inevitable that de Boer will eventually seek new challenges in some of Europe’s other big leagues but, for now at least, Ajax fans can revel in the glory of having one of the game’s most successful young coaches.

Ajax’s Winning Mentality

In football, confidence and momentum are two vital aspects for any winning team; Ajax possess both in abundance.

Ajax recently amassed a run of eight straight wins, a sequence that ended with Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Utrecht, and if they can keep up that sort of form as we enter the business end of the season, then the trophy should be heading back to the Amsterdam Arena.

In addition to their current rich vein of form, this group of players are the only ones in the division who know what it takes to win the Eredivisie. According to TVBet.co.uk, that experience "could hold the key to deciding this year’s title-race".

At this stage, Ajax are the frontrunners; it would be a huge surprise if they don’t see the job through.

A Team Effort

Over the years, Ajax have boasted some of the world’s top talent. Former stars have included Bergkamp, Cruyff, van Basten, Kluivert, van der Sar, Stam and Suarez—none of the current crop hold a torch to those greats.

However, what Ajax do have is a great team ethic and the lack of a genuine world star arguably works in their favour. It’s now February and still no player has reached double figures. Instead, 44 league goals have been shared amongst the entire squad and that can only bode well between now and the season’s finale.

Of course Ajax have star attractions and a lengthy injury to any of their key men would be a big blow. However, you do not feel that the absence of any single player would scupper their chances of making it four titles on the bounce and that has to be an encouraging sign for Frank de Boer.

Not only do the team attack as a unit but they also defend together too and that has led to them conceding just 18 goals so far, which is the best record in the division.

On Tuesday night, Vitesse failed to pile the pressure on for the third time in a fortnight as they lost 2-0 at home to AZ. That missed opportunity to go top means that should Ajax win on Thursday then de Boer’s side will establish a five-point lead over Arnhem—with only 12 games to play, it’s hard to envisage any situation where that advantage would be overturned.

If that is to be the outcome, then the only real threat to the champions comes from FC Twente. The 2010 winners are the last team other than Ajax to lift the Eredivisie crown and currently sit four points behind the leaders, with a game in hand.

Even if Twente can overcome difficult trips to Heerenveen (Wednesday) and PSV (Saturday), the advantage will still be with the reigning champions as the potential title clash between the two front runners takes place at the Amsterdam Arena.

On paper, this doesn’t feel like one of the great Ajax teams. But if they can retain their crown for an unprecedented fourth time then they will have rightfully secured their place in history.

It should be a fascinating end to the Eredivisie season.

After a tough run of form, Ajax and Niklas Moisander needed only four minutes to turn things around this weekend.

Lucky for us, Moisander's goal was worth waiting 90 minutes for.

Moisander scored in the fourth minute as Ajax earned a much-needed 2-0 win at FC Twente on Saturday in the Dutch Eredivisie. Moisander's goal—a wicked, bending, left-footed rocket—was so solid, we're naming it our B/R World Football Goal of the Weekend.

A clip with the goal appears above. Enjoy.

Moisander's goal and Ajax's win came at the end of a tough spell for the club. Frank De Boer's team crashed out of the KNVB Cup (to AZ Alkmaar) and the UEFA Europa League (to Steaua Bucharest, on penalties) in successive weeks.

Toby Alderweireld added the second goal in the 35th minute. Ajax cruised from there against a manager-less Twente and pulled within two points of leaders PSV with nine matches left in the season.

“We dominated today and rewarded ourselves”, said De Boer (via Ajax.nl). “We needed this as a team. We were waiting for a win. We continued to believe in our field play and never doubted ourselves. We didn’t let a strong opponent like Twente come into the game for even one minute.”

Moisander's meandering rocket beat out some stiff competition for the title of B/R World Football Goal of the Weekend.

In Spain, Roberto Soldado weighed in with a deft first-touch volley. In Qatar, Al Sadd defender Ibrahim Majed impressed with an overhead kick.

Across the Atlantic, Brazil was the site of a perfect curler. And in MLS, Davy Arnaud and Felipe Martins started the season in style for the Montreal Impact.

What was your favorite goal of the weekend? Did we miss something brilliant? Let us know about it in the comments.

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If at first you don't succeed, well, it was only a friendly, Siem.

That was the takeaway lesson for Ajax midfielder and captain Siem De Jong over the weekend as the Dutch giants finished a winter training camp with a practice match in Brazil. With the Dutch Eredivisie still on winter break, Ajax warmed up with a friendly against Vasco Da Gama.

The result was a 1-0 win for Vasco, but the match's most memorable moment might have come when De Jong missed an open goal from all of three yards. Here's what happened.

In the 59th minute, with Vasco already leading 1-0, Ajax created a glorious chance to draw level. Full-back Ricardo van Rhijn crossed from the right, and De Jong ran onto the pass at the far post. With only thin air to beat, De Jong skied his shot well over the bar.

Ajax remained scoreless and eventually lost. Oh well, but like we said—it was only a friendly.

Footage of the miss—which really could go down as the miss of the season, friendly or not—appears above. It serves as our Set Piece Video of the Day for this Tuesday. Enjoy.

After watching, Manchester City fans might be scratching their heads about all of this. De Jong, after all, scored three times in two matches against City in the Champions League group stage this season.

After the Vasco match, Ajax manager Frank De Boer shrugged off the loss. Here's what he said, per Ajax.nl:

The field was a sand box. But despite everything (the heat and the bad field), I’m satisfied because they worked hard. We were only sloppy in the standard situations. In those moments, the organization simply has to be there.

Sure, blame the field. As if the pitch will be better once Ajax return to frozen Holland this weekend.

Still, we want to hear from you. Will De Jong's miss be the best/worst of the season? Let us know what you think.

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Roll on January, roll on intense speculation that each player on the planet is mulling over 10 different offers from six different countries.

The Sun are quick to grasp at the inevitable straws as usual, asking Tottenham centre-back Jan Vertonghen if Christian Eriksen is a good player (which he obviously is), then linking the Danish playmaker to the North London club with a fabricated price tag.

Here's your lot on Eriksen, and it turns out Vertonghen is right, by the way.

Modern

Football evolves every year. Sometimes players fit the trend, sometimes they buck it.

There are a fair number of playmakers coming out of the woodwork, and Eriksen compares favourably among them all.

Ganso, for example, is a player caught in the wrong era—a static enganche who suffers due to his lack of tenacity and dearth of physicality. He's no good vertically and has failed to adapt to a game that ignores the classic No. 10.

Christian Eriksen is an entirely different story.

His versatility has been on show all season long, playing as a pivot, an enganche and a false-nine at domestic and continental levels.

Like most No. 10s, he likes to play between the lines. In today's game, teams make a concerted effort to shrink that space or deploy a man to occupy it, which is the reason why Ganso struggles.

According to Chris Atkins, he "struggled to deal with the rugged, battle-hardened defensive midfielders the continent had to offer" during the Copa America.

That's why mobility is so important, and when Eriksen gains a little more muscle, he'll be more than a match for any anchor.

He has undoubtedly made his name as a playmaker, but another marker for just how high his ceiling is is his extreme adaptability.

Here he is playing as a false-nine against Manchester City—a game in which he absolutely bossed the opposition—using his superior movement and ball-playing skills to flummox the Citizens defence.

As much as this system relies on the inward movement of the wingers, Eriksen plays his role superbly.

Conclusion

Any bad bits? He overcomplicates things sometimes, to be honest.

Against superior opposition he reins it in, but against PSV Eindhoven, a game that Ajax won 3-1 at the Amsterdam Arena, he played an expansive game and tried lots of first-time Hollywood passes and flicks.

It's a balance he failed to find at Euro 2012, where he performed very poorly, but the win over Roberto Mancini's side proved he can mix it with the big boys.

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Gregory van der Wiel took a touch to the right of the penalty area's half circle, chanced a glance on goal and proceeded to fire a searing drive across keeper Estaban Alvarado that shot into the upper reaches of the net.

Not 10 minutes into Ajax's first match of the Eredivisie season, the man whom many would have believed would have moved to a "bigger" club by this point in the summer had produced a bit of sublime skill that had the club of his youth in a 1-0 lead.

While Champions League participation, coupled with an expected push for a third league title in a row, are not exactly terrible conditions for a player, Van der Wiel might rightly have expected he'd have moved on from Ajax by now.

After all, the 2009-10 Dutch Young Player of the Year (he's now 24) had seen his career perched upon a near-exponential upward track for the past couple years.

Bert van Marwijk's first choice at right-back for much of the Netherlands' excellent 2010 World Cup campaign (he started all but two of the Dutch's seven matches, including the final against Spain), Van der Wiel was immediately linked with a host of moves away from Amsterdam following the tournament in South Africa.

His ability to burst up the wings provided an added boon to any attack, and while questions about his defensive prowess remained, his youth assuaged many of the fears. Tactical acumen could always be improved through dedicated work after all. And marauding runs by a fullback go a long way toward covering up defensive inefficiency.

Suitors came calling, but a move never materialized. Van der Wiel instead spent the next two seasons at Ajax, helping manager Frank de Boer's side win back-to-back league titles.

Like the Dutch national team as a whole, the 2012 European Championships seemed to be the platform upon which Van der Wiel could once again force his way into the eye line of a top club.

But the tournament proved anything but a revelation. Rather, it was a nightmare. The Netherlands failed to win a game in the group stages, conceding five goals and looking utterly inept at the back.

Teenage left-back Jetro Willems bore a heavy brunt of the criticism, but Van der Wiel was a far cry from impeccable.

Hopes of a major move away, which had appeared ready to bloom ahead of Poland and Ukraine, began to wilt amidst the pressure of the maddening campaign.

There were rumors, as there always are, swirling about after the tournament's close, but come August, Van der Wiel was still at Ajax.

Given his (still) young age, it can hardly be said that this is a make-or-break season for him, but a slew of good performances would go a long way to somewhat lessening the bitter taste that emanated from the Euros.

This past weekend's game against AZ Alkmaar, while starting brightly, eventually faded with Jozy Altidore's brace, which fired Alkmaar to a 2-2 draw at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Perhaps that is a fitting result for Van der Wiel's current predicament. Headway has been made, but there is still a long way to go—particularly where defensive responsibility is concerned.

The Dutch club is revered worldwide for the undoubted quality that has come through what seems like the revolving door of its academy.

Marco Van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, Frank Rijkaard and the mercurial Johan Cryuff are just some of the household names that we can thank the Dutch club for introducing to the world.

Now it seems two of the new breed could be set for moves away, but could their destination be England and the Premier League?

Long Term

Christian Eriksen has reportedly been a long-term target for many an English club, one particular example being Manchester United, who are again being mooted as a potential destination (Daily Mail).

The playmaker turned down a proposal from neighbours Manchester City last summer, but as the Sunday Mirror is reporting, two clubs have already opened talks with his club this year.

One of those is reportedly Russian outfit Zenit St Petersburg, but the 20-year-old has previously spoken of his desire to join either Barcelona or Sir Alex Ferguson's side.

Speculation of his exit was raised after his club signed Adam Maher for AZ Alkmaar, who could act as a replacement.

Possessing a speed in spotting openings and quick decision making it is no doubt this creativity that stands out as a primary attribute, but could this ensure he is a success in England should he arrive?

Balancing

Despite having already sold Jan Vertonghen to Tottenham Hotspur, it is thought that Ajax still have to sell to balance the books (Sky Sports).

This has led Vernon Anita to continue to be linked away from the reigning Eredivisie champions.

It is Newcastle United who are believed to be leading the race to secure his signature, having been mentioned in the same breath for some time (Sky Sports).

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Anita's agent Harry Lulofs said: “There is serious interest from Newcastle. A move to the Premier League is so tempting for him. We have to resolve the situation quickly.”

The player himself added: "I’ve two years left on my contract. But I want some clarity from Ajax about my ­future. We are having a meeting with Marc ­Overmars, the club’s new sporting director, to get a clear view of what the club wants.”

Would the man who is equally adept at left-back and defensive midfield be a good addition at the Sports Direct Arena?