Wolverhampton Wanderers U21 0-3 Ajax U21 (Premier League International Cup Group Stages)
Think of the great world football academies and the name of Ajax will always be in the conversation. From the magical era of Sjaak Swaart, Rudi Krol and Johan Cruyff in the 60’s and 70’s to Koeman, Rijkaard and van Basten in the 80’s, the De Boers, Seedorf, Davids, Kluivert, the young kings of Europe in the mid 90’s and despite a huge shift in the power of football these days, they even punched well above weight in the 2010’s when under Erik ten Hag they ‘should’ have reached the UEFA Champions League final with a team that contained Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Donny van der Beek… Well at least one from the ever-rolling conveyer belt had to fail, didn’t they?
Wolves don’t quite have the same history as the 36 time Eredivisie champions and 4 time European Cup winners, Ironbridge born Billy Wright was a one club man though and played over 100 games for England, a 1950’s icon he was captain of three times champions under Stan Cullis who's team once played Barcelona in the quarter finals of the European Cup. Long forgotten perhaps? It’s been a while since Wolverhampton were considered amongst the continents elite, although they did reach the UEFA Cup final in 1972, losing to Tottenham in the two leg final after seeing off Academica, ADO Den Haag, Carl Zeiss Jena, Juventus and Ferencvaros along the way.
That team who played in the final had four players from the club’s youth system feature in the game, goalkeeper Phil Parkes, defenders Gerry Taylor and John McAlle, along with forward John Richards, proving that if there’s a pathway, you can still achieve relative success with homegrown.
And that’s what tonight is all about, providing a pathway for these young players, to help them evolve by playing in a competitive continental match, pitting their young wits against those of other nations, the Premier League International Cup is a great place to get noticed, and I’ll be watching closely for any potential stars of the show.
It’s a 7pm kick off but Wolverhampton is under 60 miles from me, I leave at 4:30pm and head across the A42 before sat nav routes me across to the A5 and M6 toll where I’m astounded to be charged £9.50 contactless for the trouble. It’s a good road, but I’m only on it five minutes.
Eventually, I’m over the M6 (which I’ll take on the way back to save toll monies) and onto the M54 for a mile, before coming off down the Stafford Road, passing Ming Moon Buffet & Karaoke which looks very excitedly lit up in the dark, eventually pulling up outside the Leaping Wolf pub, where I park, along the Waterloo Road.
The Venue
It’s a short walk across the road, able to park here today as it’s not ‘officially’ a matchday, only a few hundred in attendance as Wolves first team are away at Everton.
It’s drizzling as I notice the golden back end of the huge Stan Cullis Stand, walking around to the Billy Wright Stand there’s a statue of the great man himself outside, I’m past him and through turnstile seven where I get a steak and potato pie and cup of tea ahead of finding my seat.
I’m sitting on the back row bar one of the lower tier, the fans packed into this half of the stand whilst everywhere else is empty, players are warming up outside as the rain still falls, the stadium is stunning, a real Premier League level venue, golden seated opposite is a carbon copy of the stand I’m in, each end has huge stands behind the goals.
There’s a light show going off ahead of kick off as the stadium announcer asks anyone with epilepsy to leave their seats, I’m more interested in finding a team sheet than some bloke flickering the floodlights on and off to dance music, thankfully there’s a fella behind me who has one, it's Dave Barnett, formerly of Birmingham and Port Vale, all wrapped up in scarf and hat his son is in the Wolves squad tonight, as I take a photo of the away team line up he says "It's a fiver for that" I chuckle and tell him "I'll bacs it" as I go through candidates for players to look out for on my screen cap.
The Game
It’s a little crowded and a bit toasty here, not much leg room as I’m surrounded by players families and a few local youths, a warm round of applause greets the two teams, Ajax stunning in white with red band, Wolves glowing golden and black beneath the night sky.
The tempo from kick off is slow, methodical, perhaps both teams are sussing each other out? Ajax 4-3-3, famously, have they ever changed ethos since the 70’s? They pass, get it wide to their tricky right winger Faberski, he’s technical but too slight, against these big Premier League kids he’s no match, Wolves in 3-4-3 are physically stronger, but limited with technique, their best player is perhaps their central defender Meupiyou who runs it out of defence, shoving opponents out his way with arms at full length.
There’s not much between the two teams early doors, you feel Wolves are okay in midfield where Luke Cundle and Finlay Ashworth get on the ball and play, out left they have an attacking full back in Ethan Sutherland full of energy, direct in getting to the by-line, but Ajax begin to get their more influential players on the ball, one of them is a left forward Jaydon Banel, he’s been teasing Ojinnaka at right back, he’s had him for toast (as Troy Deeney would say) on a couple of occasions before finally, 37 minutes in he cuts in and shoots low to open the score.
The Score
At half time there’s a couple of changes, Wolves take off their centre half Meupiyou who was there best player, and Ajax begin to control proceedings, dominating possession and territory, by now their number ten Sean Steur is showing touches of elegance, number eight Nassef Chourak becomes more prominent, they go down the right wing and cross to the back post where Banel is left unmarked, he volleys emphatically low and hard for his second goal of the game.
There’s time for another as Chourak nets from close range after a bit of a scramble and it could be more, as Ajax go down the sides and often play back low into a crowded penalty area, a couple of shots from outside the box don’t trouble Benjamin in goal, one does slip through his hands, but the goalkeeper recovers, a few more substitutions slow down the final ten or fifteen minutes as Ajax begin to toy with their opposition, a good nights work for them, not so great for Wolves, who’s fans are also hearing their first team are taking a tonking at Everton.
The Stars
Jaydon Banel is a strong, quick, technical, left sided forward who cuts in and goes for goal, happy to go inside or out and willing to run at defenders, he’s already had first team appearances for Ajax and caps for the Dutch international youth teams.
Alongside him in attack, David Kalokah looked useful, whilst Polish right winger Jan Faberski had a lot of technical quality, a little frustrating at times, but he’s one of those who could either go on to great things, or fall away down the divisions.
I liked their midfielder Chourak and in defence their number three Mylo van der Lans at centre half, just 17 years old, looked very accomplished indeed. He played alongside Belgian Jorthy Mokio who looks like he could play more comfortably as left back, he gave the ball away a bit, but did show credentials of a good player. One final footballer of note, their goalkeeper Charlie Setford, Dutch born to an English father and Dutch mother, who’s brother is at Arsenal, he was very good with his feet, although didn’t look particularly tall for a goalkeeper, so I was surprised to see on his Wikipedia page a height of 6ft5? Maybe my eyes were playing me tricks?
Whilst it wasn’t one of Wolves best performances I’m sure, I did like their man mountain of a French defender in Basten Meupiyou, recently signed from Nantes he’s had a significant number of international youth caps and even though he only played for 45 minutes, was significantly the best player in gold on the night.
The Verdict
I’ll be back at Molineux next week as Wolves U21’s take on Valencia, and I’ll be hoping for a better performance from them, as they didn’t really get going tonight, giving a decent opponent far too much respect.
Whilst Ajax are nowhere near the team they once were, they still manage to churn out some top talent, and I hope that trend continues for the good of football, and you never know, like Wolves did in 72, like Ajax did in 95, by giving kids the chance, these teams may just get back to the good old days of battling in finals with Europe’s best.
The Teams
Wolverhampton Wanderers: Lewys Benjamin, Temple Ojinnaka (Alfie White 77), Alfie Pond, Bastien Meupiyou (Filozofe Mabete 46), Caden Voice, Finlay Ashworth (Leo Lopes 77), Luke Cundle (Lucas Rawlings 73), Ty Barnett, Tom Edozie, Ethan Sutherland, Fletcher Holman.
Ajax: Charlie Setford, Ryan van der Pavert, Mylo van der Lans (Luca Messouri 68), Jorthy Mokio (Diyae Jermoumi 61), Gerarld Alders, Julian Brandes (Jinaire Johnson 46), Jan Faberski, Nassef Chourak, David Kalokah (Skye Vink 88), Sean Steur (Rayane Bounida 61), Jaydon Banel.
7:00pm Kick Off. Wednesday 4th December 2024, Molineux, Wolverhampton (att 500).
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