Football United

For a long time it looked like PSV would all collect all three points in the Rotterdam Kuip, which would have been deserved, in view of an impressive first-half display. The Rotterdam team, known for their resilience, staged a brave fight back and came down from two goals behind. PSV were 1-3 on top on 82 minutes, but then the game was turned upside down and Feyenoord even salvaged a hard-fought draw in the last minutes of injury time.

PSV needed only eight minutes to find the weak spot of the hosts. The set pieces from which Feyenoord concede many goals have been discussed many times. PSV earned a free kick n 8 minutes. Van Bommel took it and Cocu, who was left completely unmarked, simply headed home; 0-1. PSV then controlled the game for fifteen minutes, totally overrun the home side and Feyenoord were pushed back completely. Cocu was sent clear one minute after the opening goal, but he was controversially judged to be off-side. Paauwe then put an arm in the face of Farfán, who went down. Neither referee Temmink nor his assistant had seen the incident.

Feyenoord got some opportunities, but Kuijt and Kalou, their strike partners up-front, were invisible in the first period. Bart Goor created the best opportunity, following a fine solo run, but he saw his shot hit the upper side of the bar. Just when the hosts seemed to get back in the game, PSV doubled the advantage. Lee, who was often more of a left winger than a full left back, outwitted Kuijt and Song, before delivering a pin-point cross. Jefferson Farfán was in the right place to head home; 0-2. The Feyenoord defence once again did not make a solid impression, because neither Paauwe nor Saidi had marked Farfán. Gullit immediately decided to intervene: he brought on Castelen for Ghaly in order to strenghten the attack, but the extra forward could not make the difference, either. Ooijer was rightly shown yellow in the final exchanges of the first half.



Soon after the restart Feyenoord found their rhythm and when Goor had hit the post, Kalou was quick to pounce on the rebound and headed home; 2-1. So a period of as many as 1159 minutes without conceding a goal was put to an end for the Eindhoven, who set the new record last week away against De Graafschap. The home crowd now began to support their team, but although Feyenoord piled up the pressure, they did not earn any great chances. PSV managed to start some counter attacks and twenty minutes from final time they seemed to have made sure of victory when Ooijer found Beasley. Vonlanthen was in offside position, but as he did not participate in the move, the referee waved play on and DaMarcus Beasley rounded off at the far post; 1-3. Terms of abuse were chanted from the stands, but referee Temmink ignored the Feyenoord fans.


Against the run of play Feyenoord pulled one back on 82 minutes, when Ooijer slipped and Ono dispossessed him, after which he calmly finished; 2-3 De Kuip was alive once more and in an action-packed, tense finale PSV eventually dropped two precious points. As many as four minutes of injury time were added. PSV could have wrapped up things after all, when Ooijer and Park played a wonderful one-two that brought out a great save from Lodewijks. But the Belgian midfielder Bart Goor managed to score the equalizer.

Ahead of the domestic clash PSV would probably have welcomed a draw at the end of a busy week, but will now probably regret the fact that they have failed to become ‘the autumn champions'. They can still do so next Saturday night, when they play hosts to Roda JC

Goals: 6´ Cocu (0-1); 24´ Farfán (0-2); 49´ Kalou (1-2); 70´ Beasley (1-3); 82´ Ono (2-3); 90´ Goor (3-3)

Source: PSV.nl