Preview: Excelsior Maassluis vs. Ajax - prediction, team news, lineups

Twenty-time KNVB Beker winners Ajax aim to avoid another early shock cup exit on Wednesday when they travel to Sportpark Dijkpolder to face Excelsior Maassluis in the competition’s second round.

The Amsterdam giants have won four consecutive matches in all competitions, but hope to avoid coming unstuck at this stage again after losing to fourth-tier club Hercules Utrecht in the 2023-24 season.

Match preview

Third-tier strugglers Excelsior will seek their Mats Grotenbreg on Wednesday when Ajax visit in midweek, aiming for someone to achieve the same heroic status as Grotenbreg two years ago.

On that occasion, the centre-back scored a 93rd-minute winner for Hercules in a 3-2 victory over the Amsterdam giants in the second round in December 2023.

Geert Arend Roorda’s team aim to emulate the fourth-tier club’s feat by stunning the Eredivisie heavyweights and are looking to claim consecutive wins across all competitions.

While defeating Ajax would provide an undeniable boost, De Tricolores have bigger domestic concerns, considering their precarious league situation in the third tier of the Dutch football pyramid.

A 2-0 home success over Barendrecht at the weekend took them out of the relegation zone and into 17th in the Tweede Divisie, but they are far from safe after securing just one win in their last five league games and four across 17 matches.

As such, beating Ajax presents a significantly uphill challenge to the club from Maassluis, who were beaten 9-0 the previous time both teams faced off in January 2022.

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The visitors, therefore, enter Wednesday as resounding favourites, a status they always had anyway, considering the chasm in quality between the clubs.

Fred Grim has turned the results around for De Joden after a challenging start that saw his side lose three consecutive matches during a five-game sequence without success.

Since those disappointments against Utrecht (2-1), SBV Excelsior (2-1) and Benfica (2-0), two of which were in Amsterdam, the Jews have claimed four wins on the spin, even though mixed performances have not reflected the results.

The Dutch giants were fortunate to defeat Groningen 2-0 after the FC side fashioned high-value scoring chances before Ajax’s first. 

In the latter matches, the Amsterdam outfit defeated Fortuna Sittard 3-1 despite the losing team creating significantly superior goalscoring chances, De Joden then needed three late goals to overturn a 2-1 disadvantage in Baku to beat Qarabag 4-2 and hit Feyenoord with the old-fashioned smash-and-grab win on Sunday, beating the Rotterdam giants 2-0.

Given the vulnerability that still exists amid an imperfect winning run, it will be fascinating to see if Grim’s team are stunned in Maassluis as they bid for a fifth consecutive win in all competitions for the first time this season and the second time in 2025, following a similar run from January to mid-February.

However, the gap in quality between the clubs points to the visitors having significantly superior quality, even if Grim ought to shuffle the side for the midweek trip.

Excelsior Maassluis KNVB Beker form:

Excelsior Maassluis form (all competitions):

Ajax form (all competitions):

Team News

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It was no surprise when Quincy Tavares scored both goals for Excelsior at the weekend, given the forward’s menace on the left flank along with left-back Calvin Tureaij, who was not only active defensively but also a threat on the overlap.

Tavares’s brace took him to eight league goals, significantly more than Jannick Verbont (three) and underlined the left winger’s importance.

However, Verbont seems to carry a superior creative threat, owing to his three assists to Tavares’s one and key passes per 90 (1.2), surpassing the top scorer’s 0.4 average.

Grim utilised a back five in the victory over Feyenoord but the interim boss should return to a four-player defence in midweek.

Ajax sustained no apparent injuries in the victory over the Rotterdam giants, but Steven Berghuis, Josip Sutalo, Wout Weghorst, Kenneth Taylor and James McConnell are all expected to be absent.

While Kasper Dolberg might have led the line if Weghorst were available, the Dane could be replaced by Don-Angelo Konadu up top; Konadu, 19, has had a few run-outs lately, including in Baku, where he set up one of the goals off the bench in the 4-2 comeback victory.

Excelsior Maassluis possible starting lineup:

Fakiri; Varela, Ringeling, Udenhout, Tureaij; Van Eerden, Plank, Hamd; Verbont, Wennekers, Tavares

Ajax possible starting lineup:

Pasveer; Alders, Bouman, Baas, Rosa; Steur, Itakura, Mokio; Edvardsen, Konadu, Moro

We say: Excelsior Maassluis 1-4 Ajax

Excelsior’s clean sheet at the weekend was their first shutout in six games, but recording consecutive shutouts will be a herculean task against the mighty Ajax.

Therefore, the Amsterdam heavyweights should avoid an embarrassing second-round exit in Maassluis by recording a comfortable victory.

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