Ajax defeated Willem II in a closed friendly game, 6-1. Siem de Jong scored three of the six goals. Both teams were made up of players who had not been called up for the interland period.
At Ajax, players such as Klaas Jan Huntelaar, Hassane Bandé, Carel Eiting, Bruno Varela and Kik Pierie all received playing time from coach Erik ten Hag. In the 90 minutes of play, the Amsterdam team had no problems disposing of their guests from Tilburg.
2-0 lead at halftime
Ajax had the first opportunity of the game. After a foul by Willem II defender Bart Nieuwkoop, the Amsterdam team were allowed a free kick from outside the box. De Jong shot the ball into the wall. In the counter, the Tilburg team was immediately dangerous via Elton Kabangu. His diagonal low shot hit the post.
In the remainder of the first half, Ajax slowly gained the upper hand. A shot by Zakaria Labyad was rescued out of the corner by Willem II keeper Georgios Strezos. He did face a corner, however, with which Ajax, via De Jong, took the lead in the 18th minute. He grabbed the ball on the rebound, ticking it easily into the goal.
Not even 10 minutes later, Labyad was at the end of a fluid Ajax attack. Via Bande and De Jong, the ball arrived at him, and Ajax’s number 7 shot the ball smoothly in. Until halftime, Ten Hag’s team only created a bit of danger with a few shots from the 2nd line via Victor Jensen.
After fifteen minutes of play in the second half, the Amsterdam team created trouble for itself. After kicking the ball around in their own penalty area, Dean Solomons fouled Kabangu in his own penalty kick area. Paul Gladon scored the 2-1 goal from twelve yards out.
Hat trick De Jong
Within 3 minutes, the margin was two goals once again. First Solomons thought that he had redeemed his earlier error by sending a free kick into the goal with a header. His goal was disallowed due to offside. One minute later, Bande scored the 3-1 goal. Via 2 more goals by the excellent De Jong and one from Damian Dostanic, Ajax ended the game with an easy 6-1 win.