After the cup game last weekend (3-1 win over Volendam and therefore qualified for the knockout phase of the cup tournament) the C1 now faced VVV C1 in league play. Not a high-flyer in the league but nevertheless not to be underestimated. With 1 win and 4 draws the team is in the so-called lower regions. Funny thing was that prior to the match the goal difference of both teams was the mirror image of each other. PSV had a goal difference of 21-8. It is easy to guess what VVV's was....

The match took place in the famous stadium De Koel. And it was indeed not too warm. Hopefully, though, the Eindhoven game would be heartwarming.

PSV started the match very strongly. With good positional play and a high ball pace, it often came in front of the Venlo goal. After captain Justin Lonwijk came close to scoring 0-1 in the third minute, PSV scored a minute later. VVV did not get rid of the ball sufficiently and gave Leandro Fernandes the space to turn in the 16 and shoot with the left: 0-1. Always nice such an early lead.

PSV continued to play dominant after this quick goal and did not give VVV the feeling that they would keep anything in Venlo in terms of points. Leandro hit the post in the 8th minute, a Justin effort was cleared off the line and a shot by Jordan Teze flew just over. PSV's fine football almost had to lead to a bigger lead. And so it happened in the 16th minute. A great "indoor football goal" where a fast attack was set up by Justin who played in Cody who then quickly passed to Remco Evenepoel. Who then passed the ball in one go to the right to the completely free Yasin Aalillou. He kept his head cool (there was no other way in this stadium) and coolly slid the 0-2 in.

Even after this goal, the Eindhoven team remained hungry to further increase the score. To prevent that you as a reader will still be reading this report at Christmas (and probably on Boxing Day), I will not describe all chances/opportunities. But these were plentiful. PSV regularly came through with good combination football and the field play was excellent. Given the time of year, it was not surprising that there was a lot of sprinkling. Not with gingerbread cookies, but with nice passes. Despite the many chances for PSV, both teams went up the well-known De Koel staircase with a 0-2 halftime score, heading for tea.

After halftime, VVV started a little more aggressively. But soon PSV took firm control again. And scored the 0-3 in the 44th minute. A fabulous deep ball from behind by James Fofana (he himself spoke of a "world ball") to striker Cody Gakpo was perfectly appreciated by the latter and he coolly and carefully slid the ball into the right corner.

Only halfway through the second half VVV created some danger with a shot towards the goal by Arne Lekens. But PSV continued to dictate the game. A beautiful triple one-two between Justin and Cody in the 47th minute was parried by the goalkeeper. A minute later he was assisted by a defender who cleared a Gaetan Bosiers effort off the line. But in the 56th minute the VVV goalkeeper could fish a ball out of his goal again. After Leandro failed to score after a good individual action, Cody picked up the ball and finished coolly: 0-4.

In the closing stages PSV slowed down. As a result, VVV was able to play a little more football. Without putting goalkeeper Arne Lekens to the test. After Remco Evenepoel almost crowned his good game with a goal in the last minute, the final chord was for the home team. After a corner was turned away, they countered to 1-4 in the very last seconds of the match. With a precision lob, a VVV player outsmarted Arne.

Conclusion of the match: if PSV had handled their chances as efficiently as VVV did this afternoon, the match would have ended irrevocably with double digits. It was a pleasure to watch the team today. Hopefully it will continue this line next week on Zeeland soil. That is when JOVZ is on the program.


Arne Lekens; Baggio Wallenburg, James Fofana (57' Bryan van Hove), Lars Dickens, Jordan Teze; Gaetan Bosiers (53' Jay Idzes), Leandro Fernandes, Justin Lonwijk (c); Yasin Aalillou, Cody Gakpo, Remco Evenepoel.