,,An unworthy way to take part in the Cup tournament’’, was the hard judgement of coach Henk ten Cate. ,,I don't know what to say about this, each word spent on this is one too many.’’ Ten Cate had hoped that the changes he made in his team would bring some eagerness. But that never happened. Ajax were weak and uninspired in Waalwijk, to the visible chagrin of Ten Cate.

The match however was never to be close, as the coaching staff of Ajax had predicted. The midweek Cup match in Waalwijk was used to rest some of the mainstays. Jaap Stam was left out of the squad altogether, and Rosales, Babel, Huntelaar, Heitinga, Ogararu and Roger played only a part of the match. Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg was allowed to watch how his backup Dennis Gentenaar would perform.

Assistant coach Hennie Spijkerman was quick to say the day before the match that the changesd had nothing to do with arrogance or underestimation. And head coach Henk ten Cate spoke with respect about the opponent. ,,We as Ajax are not in a position to underestimate anyone'', said Ten Cate in the days before the UEFA Cup match against IK Start. We will also treat Young RKC with respect. Those guys do their best every day, just like we do. I know from my own expereince what it is like to fight for a job as a professional footballer every day.’’

But either way: Ajax would not have rested a number of their stars if it would have jeopardized reaching the next Cup round.. ,,We knew we would be eliminated’’, said Young RKC coach Adrie Bogers. Ajax took a calculated risk in Waalwijk, despite the early scare when Zdenek Grygera caused a penalty in the early stages when he inexplicably touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area. Kevin Vink scored from the spot: 1-0.

But it was inevitable that the surplus in quality would bring the decision in the remaining 88 minutes. Goals by Markus Rosenberg and Hedwiges Maduro ended the home side's hopes.

Klaas Jan Huntelaar and John Heitinga came on halfway to replace George Ogararu and Roger, later in the second half Ryan Babel relieved Mauro Rosales. Ten Cate's team still took it easy in the second half, to finish with a result similar to the one in Norway a week ago. Perez made it 1-3 minutes into the second half, assisted by Olaf Lindenbergh.

Huntelaar chipped in the ball after an hour for 1-4. Cerezo Fung A Wing made it 2-4 not much later, after which the final goal was scored by Rosenberg, who headed in a good pass by Lindenbergh. Ten Cate did not hide his irritation in his recap of the match: ,,If we learned something in this match, it is that the guys who do not play that often, have no right to complain about that.''