The report

Instead of the usual Saturday as the playing day , the O13's match was on Friday night. De Graafschap was the opponent. And if you look at the rankings an easy opponent on paper. As luck was kind to PSV today, PSV kept the points, but things could have been very different.

As expected, De Graafschap played with four midfielders and two strikers, a type of play not often played by youth teams in the Netherlands. So PSV's players did not really know what was expected of them on the pitch. After the referee's first whistle, this is actually immediately clear. Because there is a block in midfield, the players do not know how to play football through it or around it. As a result, PSV cannot get into the game and so there are too many long and wild balls from behind. The fact that De Graafschap has a physically strong striker makes it even more difficult for the PSV defense. It's just that the striker doesn't really have his sights on the ball, because he gets in front of Harm Sigmans the PSV goalkeeper four times, but doesn't score. So thanks to Harm, it remains 0-0. So when everyone on the Eindhoven side is happy that half-time is going to approach 0-0, it is Renzo Tytens who manages to get to the back line with his speed, and gets the ball perfectly low for the goal. It is now a breeze for Tim van de heuvel to tap the ball in. A minute later the same scenario, only now it is Tim who gets to the back line, and Renzo who slides the ball in. So PSV can rest with a 2-0 lead.

In the 32nd minute another chance for PSV, but not every chance is a chance. Two minutes later the backline of PSV is completely disorganized, and a quick breakthrough makes it possible for De Graafschap to score. A few minutes later another chance for De Graafschap, but thanks to a good save by Tijn Smollenaars it remains a lead for PSV. But De Graafschap was very close to an equalizer. In the 57th minute there is finally the liberating goal, Chalet Kazak gives the ball very deep to Renzo, who is just a bit faster than the outgoing goalkeeper. After this, Renzo slides the ball in from a difficult angle. Two minutes later it is again Renzo who enters the 16-meter area, but he is stopped by a foul. The deserved penalty is taken by Renzo himself. At first the De Graafschap goalkeeper saved the ball, but Renzo was the quickest to make up for his miss. Renzo scored a hat trick today. The final score is now 4-1. The second half already looked more like the PSV game, but it was not really high quality.

Still a victory, but if De Graafschap would have been more careful with the chances, it could have turned out very differently. Now the boys have a few days' vacation, after which they can start preparing for the next match. Again at home, again on Saturday, but this time against Quick.