Heitinga made no fewer than seven changes to his team for the cup match against De Graafschap: Remko Pasveer, Jorge Sánchez, Calvin Bassey, Jorrel Hato, Fabian Grillitsch, Francisco Conceição and Brian Brobbey all featured in the opening line-up.
Hato was behind the opening goal in the thirteenth minute. He tipped the ball to Brobbey out on the left wing. The striker took the ball all the way forward, with right back Sánchez keeping up only to pop it neatly into the net: 1-0. Steven Bergwijn then propelled Ajax to 2-0 in the 26th minute. The left winger came right up close and curled the ball skilfully into the net from his right foot.
Ajax found the going a lot tougher in the second half than the first. De Graafschap looked to be a threat on a few occasions, but were unable to score. After Ajax made some substitutions (Wijndal for Hato and Berghuis for Conceição), Brobbey set them comfortably ahead, making it 3-0 twelve minutes before the end. Rio Hillen came under pressure from Mohammed Kudus, tried to pass the ball back to the keeper, but instead set it right at Brobbey's feet. The striker knew just what to do with this opportunity and sent it right past goalkeeper Jurjus. So Ajax won 3-0 and will find out Saturday who they will face in the semi-finals.
De Graafschap – Ajax 0-3 (0-2)
13. Sánchez 0-1
26. Bergwijn 0-2
78. Brobbey 0-3
Ajax: Pasveer; Sánchez, Timber, Bassey, Hato (70. Wijndal); Grillitisch (81. Álvarez), Kudus, Klaassen (81. Fitz-Jim); Conceição (70. Berghuis), Brobbey, Bergwijn (81. Tadic)
