12:55 – Ajax has so far had a dramatic preparation for the second half of the season. The training camp in Marbella in Spain ended on Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 defeat against Blackburn Rovers, which ended in the English Championship. Striker Tyrhys Dolan was responsible for both goals on the English side.

Ajax had to do without the absent internationals on Saturday afternoon, who are currently active for various countries at the World Cup in Qatar. In addition, trainer Alfred Schreuder had some well-known names at his disposal and Brian Brobbey, Calvin Bassey, Francisco Conceição, Devyne Rensch and the recovered Maarten Stekelenburg, among others, appeared at the kick-off. This does not seem to have the desired effect yet, because the young midfield of the team from Amsterdam was mainly pushed backwards in the first fifteen minutes. After some great opportunities for Blackburn, however, Ajax came into the match better, but would not score before the rust.

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After the tea break, however, Brobbey and central defender Ahmetcan Kaplan, among others, are forced to make way for young talents, with Ajax becoming very vulnerable in the transition. This could be seen in the 56th minute, when 20-year-old Dolan was able to walk freely towards Stekelenburg after a deep ball and simply shot in.

Also see: Painful: Ajax lagging behind against English second division team

As a result, the poison cup was not yet empty for Ajax, a few minutes later Dolan was given the ball out of nowhere by an Amsterdam defender, after which he simply rounded off. Ajax could not recover from this blow and a moderate final offensive came to naught. Substitute Lorenzo Lucca was also unable to cause a change in the score, as a result of which Ajax ended the training camp in Spain in a bad way. This further increases the pressure on Schreuder. He therefore hopes that the internationals will soon come together again in Amsterdam. The Eredivisie will resume in a little more than a month, while the difficult match against FC Twente is scheduled for a week later.

Opposite Ajax:
Stekelenburg (De Graaff, 69); Rensch (Misehouy, 69), Kaplan (Aertssen, 46), Bassey (Vos, 69), Wijndal (Kjaer. 84); Regeer (Hato, 69), Fitz-Jim, Hlynsson (Gooijer, 69); Conceiçao (Giovanni. 84), Rasmussen (Martha, 69); Brobbey (Lucca, 46).

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