Haller at it again as Kudus’ Ajax thrash Waalwijk in Dutch Eredivisie

Cote d’Ivoire striker Sebastien Haller continued his fine form for Ajax with a double in a 5-0 victory over Waalwijk in the Dutch Eredivisie on Sunday.


The 28-year-old’s goals in either half helped The Lancers to their ninth league win of the season on matchday 13.


Steven Berghuis (2x) and Jurrien Timber were the two other scorers on the day at Mandemakers Stadium.


The win keeps Ajax top of the table in what is a heated race with archrivals PSV Eindhoven who also have 30 points but with an inferior goal record.


Haller, who was disappointingly on the losing side as Cote d’Ivoire lost 1-0 away to Cameroon in 2022 World Cup qualifying to crash out of the series on Tuesday, has now tallied nine goals in 13 league appearances for Ajax, having started in every one of those games. He also has three assists to his name.


The 27-year-old, who joined the Dutch giants from Premier League side West Ham United in January, opened the scoring for The Lancers in the 17th minute, scoring from the assist of captain Dusan Tadic.


Daley Blind then set up Berghuis for the second goal in the 42nd minute, before the latter, having seen Antony’s 53rd minute goal cancelled by the video assistant referee, netted four minutes later to put his side 3-0 up.


Substitute Mohammed Daramy then teed up Timber for the final goal of the game in the 74th minute.


Full-timer Haller was not the only African in action for Ajax as Morocco right-back Noussair Mazraoui, currently on international exile due to a fallout with coach Vahid Halilhodzic, similarly played a full 90 minutes.


Morocco attacker Zakaria Labyad was a 79th minute substitute while Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana watched the whole game from the bench.


Ghana playmaker Mohammed Kudus, who picked up an injury on international duty against South Africa last week, was completely missing from The Lancers’ matchday squad.


Ajax will hope to make it 10 Eredivisie wins of the season when they host Sparta Rotterdam in their next game after playing Besiktas in Champions League football in midweek.