Rank 10, WorldCupStory Club Index 26,540
Ajax World Cup XI Dream Team
| Ajax | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Country | WCups | Games | Mins | Goals | Capt | |
| GK | Edwin van der Sar | Netherlands | 2 | 7 | 660 | 0 | 0 |
| RB | Wim Suurbier | Netherlands | 1 | 7 | 624 | 0 | 0 |
| CB | Ruud Krol | Netherlands | 2 | 14 | 1290 | 1 | 7 |
| LB | Frank de Boer | Netherlands | 2 | 11 | 1020 | 0 | 7 |
| MF | Ronald de Boer | Netherlands | 2 | 9 | 689 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | Arie Haan | Netherlands | 1 | 7 | 630 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | John O'Brien | USA | 1 | 5 | 450 | 1 | 0 |
| MF | Johan Neeskens | Netherlands | 1 | 7 | 614 | 5 | 0 |
| ST | Johnny Rep | Netherlands | 1 | 7 | 630 | 4 | 0 |
| ST | Luis Suárez | Uruguay | 1 | 6 | 542 | 3 | 0 |
| ST | Michael Laudrup | Denmark | 1 | 5 | 410 | 1 | 5 |
| 15 | 85 | 7559 | 17 | 19 |
The Ajax World Cup dream team is not surprisingly dominated by Dutch players with 5 from the 1970s and 3 from the 1990s, joined by an American, a Uruguayan and a Dane. The great icon of Ajax, Johan Cruyff is not there, as he was already a Barcelona player in 1974, which was his only World Cup.
Edwin van der Sar gets the gloves in goal, his 1998 performances seeing the Dutch reach the semi-final, beating off competition from Maarten Stekelenburg in 2010. In a fluid formation, which is essentially a 3-4-3, there are two experienced captains to marshall the defence: Ruud Krol, who has played the most World Cup minutes of all the Dutch, and Frank de Boer, and they are joined by Wim Suurbier from the class of 1974.
In the midfield, Arie Hann and the USA’s John O’Brien provide the bite, with Ronald de Boer probing down the right, and Johan Neeskens linking with the main strikers, and providing a keen supply of goals.
Another from the class of 1974, Johnny Rep, the Netherlands top scorer in World Cups, joins Uruguay’s Luis Suarez and Denmark’s Michael Laudrup up front. Suarez contributed 3 goals in South Africa 2010, and, of course, a red card for some unscheduled goalkeeping in the quarter final against Ghana. Laudrup’s relative lack of goals in World Cups does not detract from his overall play and his ability to bring the other forwards into the game more than compensates.
It is a very experienced side, especially in defence, and the famous Ajax fluidity will prove a nightmare for any team wanting to impose a rigid marking system to slow this attack down.
