Heh. What a weird turn of events.
Teams played two matches of 60 minutes today, with just two hours in between. I watched the two Ajax matches of course and saw some glimpses of the Anderlecht - Atletico match.
Ajax beat Juventus 1-0, but it should've been 3 or 4-0. I don't recall Juve having any real opportunities.
- Watching Unuvar live is something else. Unuvar was the top scorer last year as a 14 year old and even scored the lonely goal vs Juventus today. But that wasn't what made him stand out. The kid is so lightning fast. Very agile and hard to contain. He's only 1.60 I think, but has so much power in his passes and shot, accurate too. He's throwing passes out there with the outside of his foot. I think he's a better prospect than van de Vaart, Sneijder, Eriksen, Frenkie de Jong, Donny van de Beek, Mathijs de Ligt or Abdelhak Nouri were at that age, though I don't like to hype him up too much as he still has ways to go.
- Salah-Eddine is something special as well. So technically gifted and comfortable with the ball. I think he might already be better than Mitchel Bakker, who will leave to PSG this summer.
- Hoogewerf has had a very disappointing season and today was no exception.
- Sontje Hansen had tons of scoring chances. Most dangerous forward out there, but just wasn't clinical.
- Captain Kenneth Taylor was injured from the get go. He left the game after a minute and his tournament looks to be done. Very unfortunate. Might be the team's biggest prospect after Unuvar.
- Solomon Bonnah, RB and just 15 years old looked very interesting. Very rusty and an unpolished diamond, but he showcased tons of skill with the ball and was feisty in his defensive tasks.
Here's Unuvar's goal. The clip doesn't show the amazing skill of Salah-Eddine entirely which set up this whole attack, which is too bad:
Then, Ajax faced Sagan Tosu; a team who normally would never be considered for these type of tournaments. But Ajax has started an affiliation with them, hoping to gain interest from the Japanese market so they were invited as well. Ajax played with a different side this time. You could see the nonchalance among the Ajax players from the get go. They were stumped 3-0, with Sagan Tosu pressuring Ajax like I've never seen before. Pretty comical.
Jeremy Doku, from Anderlecht, got my attention during the bits I saw from Anderlecht - Atletico. Very fast and strong. Played wing but looked like a capable striker as well. I believe it was him who caught my eye last year as well.
All teams in group A now have 3 points (Juventus, Ajax, Tottenham and Sagan Tosu). In group B Anderlecht leads with 4 points, followed by Boca and PSG with 3 each. Atletico is last with one point. The tournament continues tomorrow.