Ajax Past and Present

Founded in 1900, Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax,  known simply as "Ajax", is one of the most famous clubs in Europe, if not the world.  I of course knew of the legendary Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels and of the Ajax rivalries with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven.  But I was not aware of the support for the team among Amsterdam's Jewish population.

Sports Illustrated  recently ran an article about Eddy Hamel a Dutch Jew born in New York, who became the first Jewish player for Ajax and later died at Auschwitz.  The story describes the Ajax-Jewish connection.  It is a sobering piece about life in Nazi-controlled areas in World War II.  Hamel was apparently arrested because he was not wearing his "Judenstern" or Jewish star that Jews were required to wear.  The story took me back to my visit to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the time I saw Dachau, a concentration camp in Bavaria.

Fast forward to 2019.  Rory Smith wrote an article in The New York Times a few weeks ago about how Ajax uses its history and tradition to retain star players who might otherwise transfer to another European side for more Euros.

Rutgers' Wright's Dream Comes True

  

Many years ago, an 8-year old girl in Mt. Laurel, NJ declared she would someday be a professional soccer player.  That dream came true for Rutgers senior Kenie Wright last week, when Sky Blue FC of the National Women's Soccer League drafted her in the 4th round, 26th overall.

Kenie's grandfather, Pete McCorkle, is a long-time (35 years) running buddy of mine and he told me last weekend how hard Kenie had worked, how she went all out for 90 minutes every game and how she was deadly on set pieces.  She was a co-captain this year, earned South Jersey Collegiate Player of the Year honors as well as being Third Team All Region and Second Team All Big Ten.  Oh, yes, and she won the sportsmanship award.

Wright will be joining Rutgers alumnae Carli Lloyd, Madison Tiernan and Erica Skroski on the Sky Blue squad, which is coached by Scarlet Knight alum Denise Reddy.  Appropriately, Sky Blue plays homes matches at Rutgers' Yurcak Field.

We're looking forward to seeing Kenie live out the dream when the NWSL season begins.

FA Cup Has Lost Its Luster

I just noticed that I wrote the fewest posts (20) in 2018 of any year since I started this blog back in '09.  It's not a lack of interest but a lack of time.  I'll try to do better in 2019.

I'm starting off with the English FA Cup, the world's oldest soccer competition, dating back to 1871.  It is open to all levels of English soccer, although the top two levels of pro teams, the Premier League and Championship teams do not enter until the third round.

Today's New York Times reports on how the Cup has diminished in appeal; in recent years, due in part to the fiscal lure of the Champions League for some of the top teams and of promotion to the Premier League for others.  It is not unusual for a coach to rest his top players at a Cup match, saving them for a game that could mean promotion - or just staying in the Premier of Championship League. "Looked at from a distance, it is hard to see much magic left: teams of reserves contesting games they do not care about in front of half-empty stadiums, for the right to stay in a competition everyone involved sees as an afterthought," write Rory Smith and Tariq Panja in the Times.

The article focuses on Accrington Stanley, a Level 1 (i.e. Third Division) side that defeated Championship (Second) Division Ipswich Town, thus earning £125,000, 10 percent of its annual revenue, in one day.  The take for the fourth round match could be 10 times that if Accrington draws one of the top Premier League teams and the match is televised.  Should that be the case, no one will care if the other side sends its third string out.

Accrington will face either Derby County or the Premier League's Southampton in the next round.  Those two sides will replay a third round draw with the winner advancing.

Argentinian Derby Turns Ugly

Yesterday the New York Times ran a story about the 2nd leg of South America's premier club competition, the Copa Libertadores between Buenos Aires' archrivals, River Plate and Boca Juniors, the first time the two teams have met in a cup final.  The first match ended in a 2-2 draw.  Noted radio announcer Leonardo Uranga called the game "the biggest game in Argentina history."

The game had been scheduled for tonight, Saturday, November 24, but was called off when the bus carrying Boca to the River Plate stadium  was attacked by River Plate fans who threw stones, sticks and bottles at the bus, shattering windows and causing the driver to faint.  Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd and fumes drifted inside the bus where some players had been cut by flying glass and debris.  Rory Smith, who wrote the original Times article about the game, reported on the chaos and resulting postponement.

Although Boca said it could not play the game, Conmebol, the governing body of South American soccer, insisted that it go on.  Finally, at 7:45, the game was postponed to Sunday evening.

The whole affair was an embarrassment for Argentina, where a summit meeting of the G20 will take place in Buenos Aires this coming week.

Improving Kensington Kids' Lives Through Soccer

Inspiring story by Kristen A. Graham in today's Inquirer about the Kensington Soccer Club and the impressive Philadelphia teacher, Jim Hardy, who started the organization and is its heart and soul.  It now serves nearly 1,500 youths from 3 to 19 with 40 volunteers and 25 coaches.  The $120,000 budget is funded through grants and donations.

"I don't think you can say how many kids Jim helps, how many families," Graham quotes City Parks & Recreation Department employee Anthony Washington, who has known Hardy since 2010, as saying. "The parents call him and say, 'Help me, you're the one he listens to.'" 

Nice to see some good news coming out of Kensington for a change.  Here's wishing Coach Hardy continuing success with KSC.

As an aside, I recall refereeing some games of the Kensington Ramblers at Scanlon Playground, K & Tioga, back in the mid-70s.

SJ Coaches Cup Is Here

Officially it's the South Jersey Coaches Tournament but it's really the Coaches Cup.  Everyone knows that in soccer the players compete for the Cup, not in a tournament.  And one of the best cups is that run by the South Jersey Coaches Association.
http://www.eteamz.com/sjsca/news/index.cfm?cat=702053
Anyone who has a .500 record by a certain date gets in the State  Tournament, er … Cup, and you play within your group against similar sized schools.  But the Coaches Cup picks the 16 best schools in South Jersey, regardless of size.

Play got underway today with Eastern boys shutting out Bordentown, 2-0, while Washington Township girls downed Kingsway, 3-1 and Moorestown girls edged Williamstown, 2-1.

Ninth-seeded Haddonfield girls travel to 8th seed Delsea tomorrow for a first round match with the winner to play the winner of Cherry Hill East and Shawnee.  On the boys side, 12th-ranked Haddonfield travels to 5th seed Williamstown.

The finals are October 27 at DeCou  Field in Chery Hill,

2019 World Cup: U.S. Women Begin March to France

Has it really been more than three years since Carli Lloyd stunned the soccer world with a hat trick in the first 16 minutes of the final against Japan in Vancouver as the United States went on to win its third Women's World Cup?  Yes it has, and today it started all over as qualifications for the 2019 Cup in France got underway in Cary, NC.

The Americans got off to a fabulous start with a 6-0 whitewash of Mexico as Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan each scored two goals, while Tobin Heath and Julie Ertz each had one.  Lloyd came on in the 66th minute.

Next up is Panama tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. with the final group match on Wednesday at 5:00 pm.

The top two teams in the four-team group will advance to the semifinals on October 14.  The final is October 17.

The U.S. Soccer account of the game is here.