Less than a month since the tournament victory over FC Den Bosch (0-2), the Amsterdam team continued their cup run in Enschede. The cup duel with FC Twente began with a minute of silence for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
The Tukkers immediately showed themselves to be difficult opposition. After fifteen minutes, Ajax could consider themselves lucky not to be punished by Virgil Misidjan after sloppy loss of the ball by Jurriën Timber. Cunning Anass Salah-Eddine – on loan to FC Twente from Ajax – marked up the second chance of the evening. Goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli prevented a goal against. The Argentinian Ajax goalie put a stop to it before former Ajax player Vaclav Cerny could score from distance. This was followed by two unsuccessful attempts on goal from Steven Berghuis.
Twente came closest to opening the scoring immediately after half-time. Heitinga intervened just before the hour and substituted Davy Klaassen for Francesco Conceiçao. The Ajax trainer hoped he would bring more depth with a sting into his team. The substitution worked out well. The Amsterdam team regained the initiative from Twente. An attack by Tadic and Concieçao ended with the beautiful goal by from Kudus.
The goal turned out to be enough for a place in the quarter-final. Heitinga also won his third match as head coach. The lottery for the next round of the cup tournament will be held on Saturday.
FC Twente – Ajax 0-1 (0-0)
70. Kudus 0-1
Ajax: Rulli; Rensch, Timber, Álvarez, Wijndal; Berghuis, Taylor (76. Bassey), Klaassen (58. Conceiçao); Kudus, Tadic, Bergwijn (76. Brobbey).
