Canadians Victorious Against Ajax Amsterdam!

May 2003 – Invitational 18th Annual International OSM ’75 tournament in Holland: U15 Boys defeat both Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eidenhoven

Roman Tulis’ U15 boys blasted their way into Dutch history books in May 2003 coming away with a spectacular third place finish beating top level youth teams Ajax Amsterdam and PSV Eidenhoven! European skeptics and naysayers had said it couldn’t be done, and even after the fact, loyal Dutch fans insisted that it must have been a game of Nintendo in which the Canadian boys were the victors against super club Ajax Amsterdam – not – heaven forbid a soccer game!

The boys, who had been on a two week tour of Holland, competed in the Invitational 18th Annual International OSM ’75 tournament in Maarssen, Holland. Tournament participants included NAC Breda, Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eidenhoven, Sparta Rotterdam, and Luton Town (England) just to name a few. At the end of day one of the two day round-robin tournament, the Tulis boys found themselves in 4th place. They had won 2 of their 3 games, beating Luton Town (England) 1:0 and DWSM Maarssen 5:0. Unfortunately they had lost to Sparta Rotterdam 3:0, but they didn’t come away from that game empty handed.

Very valuable lessons had been learned. Day two, the boys took those lessons and were able to capitalize on the next few competitions. They won three of their four games. In their first, they scored in the third minute of the second half against Ajax Amsterdam and held on for an extremely exciting 1:0 win. Next they met NAC Breda and unfortunately, came up on the short end of a 1:0 score. It was an exciting game nonetheless, with a scoreless first half.

NAC Breda finally scored in the sixth minute of the second half and that was all the scoring needed. NAC Breda eventually went on to win all of their games and were the 1st Place champions of the tournament.

The Tulis boy’s third game was against PSV Eidenhoven, another of the ‘gold standard’ teams in Holland. There was no scoring in the first half. The Tulis squad scored at the nine minute mark of the second half and then again five minutes later and that was the end of that!

The boys were suddenly in the thick of the chase for the honors! Their final game was against the home team, OSM ’75 which they won 1:0 and captured their Third Place overall title. Needless to say, everybody was thrilled and very excited.

Ajax Amsterdam and the Tulis boys were tied with 15 points each at the end of the tournament, but Ajax finished ahead of the Canadian boys – taking the Second Place title – due to goal-differentials. There is no question that the Tulis School now has a standing, automatic invitation back to this yearly high level tournament.

During the boys two week tour of Holland, they played two tournaments and 13 games in total. They won eight, tied two and lost three. They had outscored their opposition 14:5. A truly ecstatic Roman Tulis said, “The boys should all be very proud of themselves. They did a fantastic job. They exceeded everybody’s expectations – including their own! Folks in Holland were truly impressed by their achievements.”

Final Standings

2003 Holland Tour Team List
		Player		From
1		Aidan McCarrell		North Vancouver
2		Alexander Marrello		Burnaby
3		Brendan Fairweather		Vancouver
4		Colin Streckmann		Burnaby
5		Devin Delany		North Vancouver
6		Jordan Milne		North Vancouver
7		Julian Papetti		Vancouver
8		Kent O’Connor		North Vancouver
9		Marcus Haber		Vancouver
10		Matthew Nikitiiuk		North Delta
11		Michael Giuffre		North Vancouver
12		Scott Cardwell (G)		North Vancouver
13		Sebastian Sobis		Burnaby
14		Taylor Lennox		Port Coquitlam
15		Tony Dall’Antonia		Burnaby