Quarterfinal is final in cup
On the first Wednesday of April, PSV O15 entered Amsterdam for a cup match. Again Amsterdam, because in the previous round the Eindhoveners were too strong for AFC. Now it had to take on Ajax in the quarterfinals. An opponent it still had something to put right after the sour 0-2 home defeat at the end of February. A quick own goal, dubious penalty and accompanying red card ensured that the match was no longer a match within ten minutes. Anyway, today is the quarterfinal of the cup. Cup competitions are matches in themselves: if you lose, you are out of the competition immediately. Would PSV, just like at the beginning of September, succeed in beating the Amsterdammers on home soil?
The early stages favored Ajax, which applied early pressure and made it difficult for the PSV side to build up. It also got two opportunities in that phase, but did not manage to open the score. PSV struggled and tried to hurt Ajax in the changeover. In the 23rd minute they almost succeeded when Jason van Duiven managed to drag out a corner kick. Iggy Houben took it and at the far post the ball was on Jason's head, which headed wide. Moments later Kjell Peersman saved the ball with his foot. The biggest chance in the first half was for the Eindhoven side. Isaac Babadi opened with a long kick to the deep Jason, who then put Iggy free in front of the goal. Unfortunately, his lob landed on the roof of the goal.
After halftime, the match was completely balanced without anything noteworthy in front of the goals. Until, in the 49th minute, Ajax suddenly scored 1-0 through unfortunate ball loss by PSV in the axis of the field. Not much later, Ajax had the chance to put the game away, but Kjell made a fine save. PSV stayed in the game and pushed Ajax further and further back in their own half. In the 65th minute, PSV came alongside. A corner was cleared, but on the edge of the penalty area Lars Putters volleyed the ball into the corner: 1-1 with more than 5 minutes to play. PSV did not want it to come down to penalties. After Livano Comenencia sent Iggy away on the right, he reached the back line, but unfortunately his cross did not reach a fellow player. With two minutes left to play, PSV had the chance for 1-2. Iggy set Jaivy Lourens free in front of goal, but to the dismay of every PSV player, the ball went wide. What made it even more awkward was that Ajax did score on the counter attack. In a duel last man Milan Govaers was tapped on his leg and became unbalanced and could not prevent his opponent from scoring the winning goal. For protesting he was then also given a red card, which meant that PSV also had to do the last minute with one man less. It could not create any more danger in that time and the team stranded in the quarterfinals of the cup.
Next Saturday the league match against Heerenveen is scheduled. Start 11.00 a.m. at De Herdgang.
Setup:
Kjell Peersman; Livano Comenencia (c), Milan Govaers, Yaël Gil y Muinos, Julian Kuijpers (59/Ruben van Bommel); Lars Putters, Matteo Dams (55/Sven Simons), Isaac Babadi; Iggy Houben, Jesper Uneken (55/Jaivy Lourens), Jason van Duiven.
Red card: Milan Govaers
Yellow card: Livano Comenencia and Yaël Gil y Muinos