Some news about the injured players... I'll save the best news for last :-)

OLE TOBIASEN: He's an Ajacied, remember? The poor guy tore his hamstrings, worked hard to recover for over a year, and tore the same hamstring directly after his return. We haven't heard anything about him for months, but in general we can say that it does not look good. It's really doubtful whether Ole will ever reach his old level again -if he'll even be able to play at all...

JESPER GRXNKJAER: Broke a toe bone during the Amsterdam Tournament, which will keep him out for a few more weeks. Heard nothing special about his recovery, so I guess he's recovering on schedule.

NIKOS MACHLAS: And now for the good news. Nikos Machlas was not expected to be back before October, but his recovery went much faster than the doctors initially expected. Nikos joined the team on this Sunday's Open Day at the ArenA. According to Ajax.Netwerk.to he will train separately for a few more days, after which he start training with the group again. He'll need to get the feeling back and probably lay some test games first, but Nikos Machlas is on his way back.

-- Anonymous, August 21, 2000

Answers

From Ajax.nl:

So, Rafaël van der Vaart is almost fit to play, but tonight's game at RKC Waalwijk definitely comes to soon for him. Friday's training session also marked the return to the Ajax-1 squad of our Brazilians: Maxwell and Wamberto. Pipo is not quite ready for action yet, so he will not join the squad for RKC. Maxwell, however, will be in the squad of 18.

Also back in the squad: Joey Didulica, who is fit enough to take place on the bench, but not fit enough to play a full game. Henk Timmer will once again be in goal tonight.

Still injured and not available for tonight: John O'Brien, John Heitinga, Bogdan Lobont and Maarten Stekelenburg. Nigel de Jong will be in the squad again, as Petri Pasanen has - apparently - blown it and has dropped out of the squad.

-- Anonymous, October 26, 2002

Another round of European matches and another round of injury fears. I am glad that it appears Zlatan suffered "only" a minor concussion,per the excellent report on ZlatanTV.Thanks Jakob. More worrying is Cristian Chivu's knee.I hope RTL,a source sited in Ajax Netwerk posts ,is wrong about a possible operation and 3 weeks out.Hoping the preliminary Ajax.nl story is more on point. Sincerely, Holding my Breath in Pennsylvania.

-- Anonymous, October 13, 2002

Keepers-Maarten Stekelenberg,Joe Didulica,Bogdan Lobont, Henk Timmer, Robert Zwinkels(Jong Ajax) Defenders-Hatem Trabelsi,Johnny Heitinga, Cristian Chivu, John O'Brien,Jelle van Damme Midfield-Jari Litmanen,Rafael van der Vaart, Maxwell Forwards-Andy van der Meyde, Zlatan, Victor Sikora, Wamberto

My favorite team of all time? Not quite. It's our list of walking wounded. Amazing how Ajax continues to show such resilience.Call the coach whatever you will. He ,coaches Krol and Bruins-Slot,the other coaches,trainers and physios, and ,most especially, a very gutty and determined group of players must be doing something right.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2002

Here's an 'injuries update', as published on Ajax.nl today. Sit tight - this is really good news :-)

The two most seriously injured players, PETRI PASANEN and DANIEL CRUZ, are back in training (as of 05 November)!! They're not training with the group yet, but they made their first steps on the ArenA grass after months of recovery and will work on their walking and running technique with Ajax' specialized running coach, Laszlo Jambor.

Pasanen said: "It feels so good to sweat again and to be really tired after training. Finally I can go onto the pitch! Power training is exhausting in a different way, this feel much better. I am aware that I still have a long way to go, but for now, this is simply fantastic."

Daniel Cruz, about the day he broke his ankle: "You can't imagine what I felt. I was just doing so well in the first team. Not the pain, but the disappointment was the toughest thing. That's why it was good for me to return to Colombia for two and a half week. The small things, such as my mother's meals, made me forget that injury for a while."

More good news? Okay, here goes: along with Pasanen and Cruz, HATEM TRABELSI, FERDI VIERKLAU and CEDRIC VAN DER GUN were out there as well. They did a light training session as well, although it consisted of slightly heavier exercises.

The sixth guy on the ArenA pitch was MIDO, who turned down an invitation by the Egypt national team (they play Liberia in Caïro), because he prefers to do fitness training. He's having a hard time returning to his old form and says he has never been 100% fit since he recovered from his concussion. For that reason, Co left him out of the squad last Sunday, at De Graafschap.

For pictures of the injured guys in training, check out Ajax.nl.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2001

Great news on the recovering players. Always astounds me how quickly players come back from broken ankles and the advances in medicine as my father suffered from a broken ankle due to an industrial accident just before the 2nd World War which caused him to hobble around for the rest of his life. As an aside he received a very heavy compensation at the time (Approx £2k) and was going to increase this by a foolproof plan at dog racing. Unfortunately this did not materialise as the bookies came up with an even better foolproof plan !!!!.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Well I'll be damned :-)

Just wrote that there's no news about Mido - and there's an 'injury update' on Ajax.nl...

Second goalkeeper, MAARTEN STEKELENBURG, has left the Young Oranje training camp with an elbow injury. It's not clear yet how long it will take him to recover. (Hey, Joey Didulica's back!)

FERDI VIERKLAU will be sidelined for a while. He was suffering from an apparently minor muscle injury in his upper leg. But it didn't get better, so he had X-Rays taken and the doctors discovered that his muscle is slightly torn.

DANIEL CRUZ has returned from Colombia, but his broken ankle will need more time to heal. Just like Cruz, PETRI PASANEN and CEDRIC VAN DER GUN are not expected to return to action before the winter break.

PIUS IKEDIA and MIDO (there we go!) are back in training (running only, no ball exercises yet). However, they'll need some more time to fully recover. No indications given.

TOMÁS GALÁSEK is ready to rock and roll. He will play with Young Ajax this weekend, in their away game at Young SC Heerenveen. After that, he'll hopefully be ready to return to the first team.

-- Anonymous, October 05, 2001

Here's an update from the 'sick-bay', as published on Ajax.nl:

TIM DE CLER (broken jaw): joined a group training session for the first time last Thursday. Seemed completely fit, went into the duels on full power and with no fear. Seems 'medically fit' and ready to return.

MITCHELL PIQUÉ (broken metatarsal): recovered, training with the group again.

JOHN O'BRIEN: did not join the heavy physical group training, but was on the training pitch, doing individual ball exercises. Seems to be almost ready to return.

TOMAS GALASEK, PIUS IKEDIA, DANIEL CRUZ, PETRI PASANEN, ANDY VAN DER MEYDE, KWAME QUANSAH and KIRAN BECHAN are not quite ready yet.

TOMÁS GALÁSEK (

-- Anonymous, September 02, 2001

There's quite a lot of injury trouble for this Sunday's game against FC Utrecht. Nikos Machlas and Tomás Galásek can't play - and it looks like Shota Arveladze will not be ready in time either. However, Rafaël van der Vaart (injured last week against Fortuna) is back.

So - what to do? The most surprising thing is that Rafaël van der Vaart and Richard Witschge will probably play right next to one another, on midfield. Daniël Cruz (against Fortuna) will take Machlas' position.

The most difficult problem is: how to fill in Arveladze's position. Youssouf Hersi would be an option, but Adriaanse could also choose for Andy van der Meyde on the right, and Cedric van der Gun on Arveladze's position behind the center forward (Cruz). I think I would prefer the latter option, but I think Co will choose for the first.

And I hope Co puts Chris Kanu on the bench. He's not good enough at right back. Put Bergdølmo back in the team, or Yakubu. But not Kanu. I expect this line-up:

Grim; Yakubu, Pasanen, Chivu, De Cler; Witschge, Hersi, Van der Vaart; Van der Gun, Cruz, Wamberto.

-- Anonymous, February 24, 2001

You know what injured Ajax players do to pass the time and keep themselves from getting bored?

I was at an Eagle Eye Cherry concert yesterday night, at the Paradiso here in Amsterdam (remember his smash hitsingle "Save Tonight"?). John O'Brien, Jesper Gronkjaer and Ole Tobiasen were there. O'Brien was violating the Paradiso house rules by filming the show with his digital camera :-)

-- Anonymous, November 15, 2000

This sucks...

A broken nose for Chivu (see above) and now an overburdened ankle for Richard Knopper. His left ankle will be plastered for two weeks, after which he'll need some more time to recover. It is uncertain for how long (from Ajax.nl, today).

Former Ajax striker, Ajax coach and Holland national coach Rinus Michels, known as 'The General' in Holland, once made a legendary statement: "Football is WAR." Sounds like he was right...

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2000

Ajax.nl reports that Cristian Chivu broke his nose in the game he played for Romania last Saturday, against Italy. Italian player Totti hit him in the face by accident. As we all know, Cristian Chivu is a tough guy. He finished the game... (which Romania lost 3-0, by the way). According to Ajax.nl it is not clear yet whether Chivu will be ready for Vitesse vs Ajax on Sunday, 15 Oct.

-- Anonymous, October 09, 2000

Brilliant... Nikos Machlas has played his second game with Ajax-2, against the second team of his previous club: Vitesse. Ajax crashed 6- 2. In 2= weeks time Ajax-1 will play away to Vitesse as well... Hopefully, this was not an omen...

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2000

Nikos Machlas has made his official return in Ajax-2 yesterday evening, in their home game against SC Heerenveen-2. According to Ajax.nl and an AT5 TV report everything went fine. Ajax-2 won the game (3-2). Machlas has been training with the first squad for a few weeks now. He says his return into the first team is "not far away, but the coach wants me to play two more games in the second team first."

We're gonna need this guy, folks. Shota Arveladze seems to be going nowhere this season...

-- Anonymous, September 22, 2000