Ajax played to a draw in the second friendly match of the season on Saturday. Sean Steur opened the scoring against Danish side Aarhus GF, but coach John Heitinga’s team had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
Heitinga again preferred new goalkeeper Víteslav Jaros over Remko Pasveer. In addition, Josip Sutalo, Youri Baas and Wout Weghorst returned to the team.
Ajax’s first friendly match against Scottish side Hibernian ended in a spectacular 6-3. But at Sportpark Het Achterveen in Hattem, the goals took longer to arrive. The score at half-time was 0-0.
After that, a completely renewed Ajax team entered the field, including Pasveer, Steur, Ahmetcan Kaplan, Brian Brobbey and Bertrand Traoré. Rayane Bounida also made his appearance. The Belgian almost immediately made it 1-0, but his shot hit the post.
Not long after that, it finally happened. Steur was found by Traoré, turned away excellently and slid the ball into the far corner.
Ajax concedes Danish equaliser
It then looked like it was waiting for the 2-0, but Aarhus suddenly equalized. Ajax failed to get the ball out of their own penalty area and Stefen Tchamche tapped the ball in from a pass from Rasmus Carstensen.
Ajax were still after the winning goal and came close via Bounida. On the other hand, Pasveer had to intervene in a Danish attack. But no more goals were scored in Hattem.
Saturday’s match was the final one for Ajax of the training camp in Zeist. PAOK, KV Mechelen, Celtic and AS Monaco are the next opponents in preparation. On Sunday 10 August, Ajax will kick off the new Eredivisie season with a home match against promoted side Telstar.