For Mark van Bommel, the upcoming match is a special one. For years, the PSV head coach played for Fortuna Sittard. Saturday he returns to ground that is familiar to him. "I think Fortuna Sittard will be the surprise of this season," he said.
Raised
On May 15, 1993, Mark van Bommel made his debut in professional football as a Fortuna Sittard player by filling in against Cambuur Leeuwarden. More than 15 years later, he faces the Limburgers for his first away game as head coach in the Eredivisie. "From when I was 9 until I was 22, I walked around there. I was literally raised there. By the trainers, by my fellow players. What you normally get at home or on the street, I got at Fortuna."
His visit to the Fortuna Sittard Stadion will therefore feel like coming home, according to Van Bommel, even though he never played an official game in the current stadium of the promoter. "For me it was the old Baandert, where it could really be haunted with a heavy, soggy pitch. That's not where you wanted to go as an opponent."
Surprise
That will be somewhat different on Saturday night, Van Bommel also knows, warning his team about the club where he grew up. "I think they are underestimated a bit. It is a solid, good footballing team with players who can really make a difference. I think they will be the surprise of the season. With my background I grant them that with all my heart. But of course I want the points to go to Eindhoven."
For that, Van Bommel wants to build on the last half hour of last weekend's home game against FC Utrecht. "It wasn't that it was nothing at all in the first hour, you know, but I think we can do better than that. Sometimes you just have to be patient to find openings. It is also a quality to recognize the moments when you can strike. Utrecht fell far back in their own half, so you can say it's clever that we got through in the end."
Changes
Taking into account the UEFA Champions League playoff encounter, Van Bommel will not. "If you are fit, as we all are, you can just play three games in a week. Whether I make changes depends on the match. I think by now we have reached the point where everyone knows what to do. Regardless of who comes in."