After two equal games, against FC Volendam (1-1) and Go Ahead Eagles (2-2), Ajax is already a little behind the facts. In fact, PEC Zwolle has to be won.
‘John Heitinga and Ajax have to miss basic players’
However, practitioner John Heitinga seems to have to do it without two basic players. Today the players’ group of the team from Amsterdam came together for a training, but there were two prominent absence: keeper Vitezslav Jaros and center defender Ko Itakura.
Their injuries certainly do not come at the right time (as far as injuries ever come at the right time), because on Saturday the Eredivisie top club will compete against PEC, after which Internazionale Wait as an opponent in the Champions League.
Itakura participated in Japan against Mexico, but was changed after an hour. Later he said about that: “It hurt and that’s why I changed. But I already feel a lot better now.” He talked about ‘Stiffness in his body’: “I was transferred from Germany to the Netherlands and I feel a difference in the fields. That caused some complaints. It is possible that this caused my ankle injury.” Again he nuanced: “I feel much better than during the competition.”
Show Ajax again from its best side against PEC and Inter, then Heitinga will probably be under more pressure. Valentijn Driessen recently proposed a quick resignation.
