Afternoon in Eindhoven

A beautiful afternoon in the Eindhoven city center

Another beautiful European day greeted us as we boarded the bus for Eindhoven.  The match on Sunday was between PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse.  PSV is consistently one of the top teams in the Dutch league and Eindhoven is located in southern part of the Netherlands.  We arrived a little bit more than 2 hours before the match.  Several of us walked around outside of the stadium.  After checking out the stadium gift shop, a number of us headed down the city center which was buzzing on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  There were hundreds of people, socializing, eating, and shopping in the city center.

Phillips Stadion-Home to PSV Eindhoven

PSV warming up prior to the match 

The stadium gradually began to fill up as kick-off approached.  Vitesse needed a win just a much as Cologne did the previous day to remain in Holland’s top division.  At the game in Germany on Saturday, both team’s line-ups were listed as 4-5-1.  It was interesting as each team played within this set up.  On Sunday Vitesse would follow in the 4-5-1 vein but more attack and aggressiveness shown by PSV with a 4-3-3.  Immediately from the start the game packed more offensive punch than the match the day before.  Each team registered a shot within the first minute of the game.  PSV was consistently looking to get the ball wide to their wing players to create attacking opportunities.  They had several superb chances that just missed wide.  Vitesse feeling the pressure to keep PSV off the board and stay in the top division, tried to stay compact an organized in their own half.  This often left their sole target player to battle 3-4 PSV defenders when the rare opportunity presented itself to get a touch on the ball.  Often times when a team sits back on absorbs pressure they become guilty of playing on their heels which often results in fouls in and around the goal box.  Throughout the first half Vitesse conceded several free kicks near their own goal but PSV was unable to take advantage.  In the 37th minute PSV would break through as their right winger was able to break through and place the ball past the right side of the Vitesse keeper into the goal.  The game would enter halftime 1-0.  To begin the 2nd half neither team made too many adjustments and PSV continued to push the pace of the game.  In the 63rd minute their persistence would pay off as an early cross was played in from the left side to one of PSV’s Brazilian, central defender, Marcelo, who had moved up into the attack.  He would head the ball home and staked the home team to a 2-0 advantage.  The pace of the match slowed a little but Vitesse began to try and push their attacking center midfielders forward now that they needed a goal.  Vitesse’s Spanish holding center midfielder, Jordi Lopez was able to find a goal after getting behind the PSV defense.  This goal with less than in the 79th minute and with 11 minutes to play gave Vitesse some life, however it would be PSV with the best chances, missing several opportunities to to regain the two goal advantage.  The match would conclude 2-1 PSV.

Vitesse defending one of the numerous free kicks conceded near their box in the first half

Final Score: PSV 2 Vitesse 1

When the group returned to the Hotel the participants divided up into two teams to discuss observations from the match.  Questions addressed included, what type of system of play was a team using?  What may have been their game plan for the match?  What could they have done differently.  Each group would make a short presentation on Monday morning before heading off to one of the Olympic Training Centers in Germany.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to hear presentations on coaching education and player development from the Deutsche Fussball Bund.  I think it is a day many of the participants are looking forward to.  The German team has finished no worse than 3rd at the past three World Cups.  Hopefully, Monday will provide insight in how they are achieving such noteworthy performances.