Got up early this morning by train or bus to Eindhoven station, there you will be picked up by PSV vans at 8 o'clock. Changing clothes and going to training, after the training after school and on the way having a quick sandwich. Then follow the lessons carefully and then back to the Herdgang, where normally the 2nd training of the day would be at 3 o'clock, but not today because there is an inserted league match against Excelsior Rotterdam on the program. So we quickly did some homework, then had a sports meal together, went for a walk across the Herdgang to kill time, and then at 5 o'clock we started the preparation for the match, but then the message arrived that Excelsior would be later because of the traffic jams on the Dutch roads, so we killed time with new dance moves and watching footage from previous matches. And then at a quarter to 6 the coach finally gives the signal that we can go outside for the w-up. Pfff finally.
PSV starts the match well, the pace is not too high. Because of this, PSV cannot get dangerous because Excelsior plays very grouped. Jaivy tries with a shot, but it hits the legs of the Excelsior goalkeeper, from the resulting corner, Luc can almost hit the ball, but unfortunately it goes past the wrong side of the post. But Excelsior is also dangerous with a quick counter, but it is skillfully nullified by the central defensive duo Luc and Livano. PSV tries with a short corner, Ruben immediately tries to shoot at goal, at the 2nd post the ball falls outside instead of inside. But also Kjell the PSV goalkeeper stands his ground and manages to box a shot from about 8 meters to the side. In the 22nd minute the ball came to Jesper, who cut and turned free on the edge of the 16-meter area, he crossed the ball tightly, Shijon managed to keep his composure and slid the ball into the goal 1-0. Although the game was not good in the first half, PSV could go to rest with a 1-0 lead.
In the break we put the dots on the I again, we will see if the football will be better in the 2nd half, 2 minutes after halftime the goalie of Excelsior shows us why they put him there, with a brilliant save he saves a nice shot by Lars. 2 minutes after that it is Thijn who tries it with a flaming long distance shot from a corner, but it goes over. PSV had a bit more grip on the game in the second half, but the boys did not play any sparkling football today. In the 58th minute PSV shows some of the class they have, a truly magnificent world pass from Mattheo into the depths to Jesper, Jesper passes the goalkeeper and makes the liberating 2-0. Within a minute the 3-0 is also made by Jesper, but because I was still writing I forgot how???? Right after this, the referee whistles the final signal. A 3-0 victory, today not with sparkling football, but with a lot of passion and fight. After showering, it is 8 o'clock before the boys leave the Herdgang? Some still have an hour to go before they are home, in other words still a day of 14 to 15 hours on the road to reach the final goal. So for the mental resilience of the boys a learning day, and for those people who say that too much wadding is put under youth players. How many hours did YOU spend today yourself?