Ajax win by a wide margin at Telstar after a sluggish start
Ajax won 0-4 away at Telstar in the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie on Sunday. The Amsterdam side struggled badly before the break, but still pulled clear through goals from Davy Klaassen, Steven Berghuis, Tolu Arokodare and substitute Marcos Leonardo.
Dies Janse came into the starting XI in place of Youri Baas, while Oscar Gloukh operated from the left. Míchel Sánchez's side saw plenty of the ball from the opening stages, but did little with it. The tempo was low and Telstar kept the visitors away from goal without too many problems.
As the first half wore on, the home side began to offer more of a threat. After 27 minutes, Telstar won a corner when Janse blocked a cross from Jelani Seedorf, while Rui Mendes fired wide on the turn shortly afterwards. By then, Ajax had still not created a serious chance.
Then Ajax scored with their first real opening after 37 minutes. Berghuis whipped in a dangerous corner and Klaassen turned in the 0-1 from close range. Soon after, Gerald Alders tried his luck from distance for Telstar, but Marc ter Stegen made the save.
Just before half-time, Ajax thought they had a second. Gloukh slipped a subtle pass through to Julian Brandt, who delightfully lifted the ball over Ronald Koeman junior. Brandt had, however, been marginally offside and, after a VAR check, the goal was definitively ruled out.
Early in the second half, Telstar were handed a golden chance to equalise. Alders won the ball off the casual Jorthy Mokio and sent Mendes through, but Ter Stegen kept out the 1-1 with a fine save. A few minutes later, Mendes fired wide again, before Ajax took control of the match in a short space of time.
Berghuis doubled the lead in the 56th minute, finishing with his right foot after a quick counter-attack and beating Tyrone Owusu. Four minutes later, it was 0-3 too: Koeman junior gave the ball away to Klaassen, Berghuis then teed up Arokodare and the striker finished. That gave Berghuis a major hand in Ajax's lead, with one goal and two assists.
In the closing stages, Sánchez sent on Abdellah Ouazane, Youri Baas, Oliver Edvardsen and Marcos Leonardo among others, while Joffre Torrents, who arrived from FC Barcelona, also made his Ajax debut off the bench.
Leonardo made it 0-4 in the 78th minute after Koeman junior failed to deal properly with a shot from Ouazane, and the Brazilian followed in after a weak first effort. Ajax ultimately wrapped up a comfortable win in Velsen-Zuid despite an extremely difficult first half.
