Roger Schmidt can tick off his second target for 2020. The first week he ensured Europa League football until after Christmas, now he managed to keep his squad in the national cup tournament. The only pressure he has until Christmas is to reduce the gap with Ajax in the Eredivisie.
The German head coach made the usual couple of changes for the KNVB Cup match in Doetinchem. He sent the following eleven players onto the pitch: Unnerstall: Dumfries (C), Baumgartl, Viergever, Max; Sangaré, Hendrix; Ihattaren, Götze; Gakpo and Malen. He also made place on the bench for Delanghe, Boscagli, Fein, Mvogo, Oppegard, Piroe, Rosario, Sambo, Teze and Vertessen.
De Graafschap coach Mike Snoei started with De Boer; Lelieveld, van Huizen, van de Pavert, van Heertum, Tutuarima; Dekker, Konings, Lieftink; Seuntjens and van Mieghem in a 5-3-2 system, in order to always keep an extra man in both the defence and midfield, opposing the 4-2-2-2 line-up of PSV.
First half
De Graafschap got the first chance of the match, but Toine Van Huizen‘s header in the sixth minute went over the bar. After PSV’s first free-kick and corner it was Timo Baumgartl who headed beside the second goalpost in the ninth minute. With both teams warmed up, it was up to PSV to start looking for cracks in the blue-white wall, but they used a much low ball tempo.
The first big chance was for Mohamed Ihattaren, but his shot was blocked. The next chance came in the 24th minute, but Cody Gakpo couldn’t reach Donyell Malen at the first goalpost. Meanwhile, De Graafschap always kept eight or nine players behind the ball and just waited for a possibility on a counter-attack, for which they actually lack speed. At the same time, they let the terrible state of the pitch do the job to keep PSV from increasing the pace.
The opening goal came on account of the Doetinchem side, which the referee decided was offside. A PSV attack in the 38th minute earned a corner kick, which ended up in a scrimmage with no result. The best chance so far followed two minutes later, but Ibrahim Sangaré’s shot shattered on the fists of goalkeeper Rody de Boer.
Denzel Dumfries’s following header went over the bar, but it was good to see the game got some of the excitement it needed. Malen left two great opportunities unused just before half time. The yellow card for Jasper van Heertum was maybe the first sign of the opponent’s wall starting to crack.
Second half
With Pablo Rosario for Sangaré on PSV’s side, both teams continued the way they did in the latter part of the first half. Ten minutes in, Denzel Dumfries got an easily given penalty kick, and Phillip Max didn’t fail to utilize it from the eleven-meter spot. Rosario left the pitch injured after twenty minutes and was replaced by Adrian Fein.
Mario Götze failed to score the second goal, and twenty minutes before the time the match started looking sloppier altogether. Just before it became a drag to watch, Malen scored his most beautiful goal of the season from a distance of 25 meters.
When Lars Unnerstall couldn’t prevent the 1-2 from happening, the extra time became more exciting than need be. But the Eindhoven side was steady enough and ensured the victory without giving away any serious chances anymore. Roger Schmidt can tick off his second target for 2020. And all focus can now be turned towards the two last Eredivisie matches until Christmas.
You can watch the full resume right here.
Next opponent: RKC Waalwijk
RCK Waalwijk is the current number 12 of the Dutch Eredivisie competition. The club colours are yellow and blue, and the home matches are played at the Mandemakers Stadium, which has a capacity of only 7.508 visitors. The stadium was built on the same place as the former Sportpark Olympia stadium, in Waalwijk, and opened its doors in 1996.
Head coach Fred Grim seems to have found a way to form a winning formation after a tough start: seven of all twelve points were gained in the last four matches. The former goalkeeper and assistant coach of Ajax achieved promotion with RKC to the Eredivisie in his first season and managed to keep the club on the highest level so far. Not a bad result with a budget of only seven million euros!
History
The Rooms Katholieke Combinatie (‘Roman Catholic Combination’) Waalwijk was established on 26 August of 1940, after a fusion of HEC, WVB and Hercules. They didn’t become a professional football club until 1984, and their first promotion to the highest level took place in 1988.
With players like Peter Bosz and Marcel Brands, they became champions of the Dutch second division, after which both players went on to pursue their careers elsewhere. And both made a name for themselves after they ended their careers: Peter Bosz as head coach of Ajax and currently the coach of Bayer Leverkusen, Marcel Brands as technical manager of PSV earlier and currently with Everton.
RKC became a mid-league team of the Eredivisie before they relegated after 19 seasons. Since 2007 they became more of a typical elevator team, and they were ranked 18th before the corona pandemic entered the Netherlands.
Their European matches for the Intertoto Cup in 1989, 1991, 2000 and 2001 can be considered highlights in the history of the Noord-Brabant club. Khalid Bouhlarouz, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Ryan Donk, Erik ten Hag, Michael Krohn-Dehli, Alfred Schreuder, Thomas Vermaelen and Jan Vertonghen are some of the best-known players who defended the yellow-and-blue.
Familiar faces
Several exponents of the PSV youth Academy played in Waalwijk in the past: Raymond Beerens, Lennerd Daneels, Tommie van der Leegte, Clint Leemans, Rob Maas and Jeroen Zoet. Florian Jozefzoon, Joeri Nikiforov, Željko Petrović, Dennis Rommedahl, Moussa Sanoh and Khalid Sinouh played for both clubs, while Darije Kalezić, Ricardo Moniz and Edwin de Wijs played for the ‘Waalwijkers’ long before they were trainers in Eindhoven.
Of the current PSV technical staff only goalkeepers trainer Raimond van der Gouw has a history at RKC. Belgian strikers Lennerd Daneels and Cyril Ngonge are PSV Academy exponents who are under contract in Waalwijk at this moment.
Facts and figures
PSV and RKC Waalwijk have played 56 matches against each other throughout history. PSV won 38 and lost 13 times, scoring 151 goals while conceding 52. In the context of the KNVB Cup tournament, the teams met four times. PSV won twice and the teams drew twice as well. PSV scored twelve and conceded six goals.
PSV’s biggest home win dates back to 30 April of 2000, when the final score was 7-1. On seven October of 1992, PSV suffered its biggest home defeat against RKC Waalwijk with 0-3. The greatest triumph away was celebrated on 13 October of 1999, when PSV won 1-6. On 2 February 2014 PSV went down in an away match with 2-0, a record and also the last time PSV lost against RKC.
Current situation
As mentioned before, RKC had a rough start. Of the twelve played matches, they won only three, two of which in the last three matches. They lost six matches while the goal difference is now minus nine to the 20 goals Kostas Lamprou had to concede. The 29-year-old Greek goalkeeper surely has seen better days when he was under contract at Feyenoord and Ajax, even though his best three years were for Willem II Tilburg so far.
Apart from 35-year-old Paul Quasten, the entire defence consists of 22-year-old and younger talents. Vurnon Anita is the experienced man on the midfield, while Anas Tahiri has shown to be of value with two assists. Finn Stokkers is top scorer with three goals, Vitalie Damaşcan and Ngonge both scored twice and gave one assist. Ola John, formerly FC Twente, Benfica, Reading and Vitória Guimarães, has two assists and one goal, while Daneels is good with one of each so far.
Situation PSV
For the latest updates on the fitness of all the players, watch the pre-match press conference live on Friday at 13:30 (1:30 PM) on PSV’s YouTube Channel.
Match information
Match: RKC Waalwijk – PSV
Date: Saturday 19 December 2020
Time: 20:00 (8:00 PM)
Location: Mandemakers Stadion, Waalwijk
Referee: Kevin Blom
VAR: Allard Lindhout
Broadcast: Fox Sports
Article by Joey van der Hart for Eindhoven News
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