Today the friendly match against v.v. Eijsden was scheduled. On a wonderfully sunny Herdgang our boys could get down to business. The opponent was an E1 team and for some boys this means an age difference of 3 years!
At the start of the match everyone was impressed by the opponent: "they are really big!
PSV started the match strongly and from a flowing combination Jordan rounded the goalkeeper. However, his effort was cleared off the line.
That it was all a bit more physical today was the first thing captain Baggio experienced. Where he normally hardly loses a duel, he was now cleverly cut down. The same player then lashed out hard and the ball disappeared into the short corner above Pepijn: 0-1.
The same Baggio was near the equalizer but now the goalkeeper was well positioned.
PSV was in possession of the ball most of the time, but their opponents also passed the ball well. Out of nowhere it was suddenly 0-2 after an Eijsden player picked up the ball and beat Pepijn via a bouncing ball.
PSV went hunting for the tying goal, but Jordan was unable to finish off James' good preparatory work.
They went into the break with 0-2. That was hard to swallow and coach Bastiaan had to pull out all the stops to get their heads up.
The rest had done the boys good and it was James who managed to finish off a solo in fine fashion: 1-2.
But Eijsden was not about to give up either. It even became 1-3 when a shot from the left disappeared hard over Merijn in the goal. Moments later the game seemed to be over when a free kick with an unfortunate bounce swirled over Merijn into the goal: 1-4.
But where everyone thought it was really over for F1, the players themselves thought otherwise. The awe and fear of this sporting opponent disappeared like snow in the sun. A corner by Jordan was nicely headed in by Luc: 2-4. The most beautiful attack of the morning (from Merijn to James, then to Baggio) ended with a brilliant pass to Luc, who shot hard: 3-4.
PSV went hunting for the equalizer and was rewarded in the last minute. A long ball from Jordan was picked up by Cody and he managed to beat the goalkeeper: 4-4.
A fine practice game ended in a deserved draw.

Report courtesy of Peter Verhoeven