Fuente: © UEFA (English)
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UEFA CUP: Grygera ready for Ajax draw

/noticias.info/ The UEFA Cup draw and the prospect of Christmas away from home were the main things bothering Zdeněk Grygera after AFC Ajax's win at SV Zulte Waregem on Wednesday night.

Starting place
The Czech international defender was in the starting lineup as Ajax sealed their progress to the Round of 32 with a 3-0 Group F victory in Belgium. A second-placed finish in the section earns them a tie against one of the third-placed finishers from the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Not concerned
Grygera, however, is not too concerned. He told uefa.com: "I wasn't worried about who we would get in the draw after that game - especially as we got back from Belgium at 3am. We will see what happens in the draw. We are just happy to be in the next round. We knew before the Zulte Waregem match that we were almost through, but we wanted to win because there is always a rivalry between the Netherlands and Belgium. Also, Ajax are a big name in Europe and we could not afford to sully our reputation."

Busy December
Friday's draw marks the end of UEFA Cup activity for 2006, but Grygera is still going to be busy over the winter. With Dutch league games on 24, 27 and 30 December, he is resigned to missing out on a traditional Christmas in the Czech Republic, yet is doing his best to keep his homeland in his heart. "My family will be spending our second successive Christmas in the Netherlands," the 26-year-old said. "Even though we will be in Amsterdam, we will try to maintain our Czech traditions. We usually eat fried carp with potato salad but we can't buy carp in Amsterdam so we have to choose a different kind of fish.

Unusual experience
"Playing on Christmas Eve is very strange for me," continued Grygera, who moved to Amsterdam from AC Sparta Praha at the start of the 2003/04 campaign. "In the Netherlands, 25 and 26 December are the main days of Christmas but we all put our gifts under the tree on Christmas Eve." Grygera is only too aware, though, that festive treats - especially overeating - are not compatible with football. "Everyone eats a lot at Christmas, and I have to confess that I like sweets of all kinds," he said. "I may eat one or two on the day after a match but us players have to be careful about our weight!" notas_de_prensa_archivo