With one practice match in the legs, 1-2 loss against Fc Twente, today the first official match was already scheduled. Namely the cup game against Sparta. Where in previous years the first game was played in a pool of 4 participants, this season it was the so-called "knock-out" system. So it was up to PSV to leave the field as the victor today.

The team of trainers Edwin de Wijs and Eric Addo started strongly and soon got a big chance. Dennis Vos went on strongly on the left flank and played a good ball back to Damian Timan. Unfortunately his shot was just blocked.

Sparta then became a little stronger and was calmer on the ball. Without creating any real chances they took the lead in the 12th minute. A ball was carelessly defended at PSV after which a sharp cross ended up at the far post and was slipped in by the striker: 0-1.

Barely two minutes later, the home side almost came alongside again. Thijs Martens beat his opponent at speed but hit the goalkeeper. The rebound was shot (again) by Damian. But again Damian was unlucky to have his effort blocked.

A real cup game started in which both teams had opportunities. Sparta came close to extending their lead twice midway through the first half. Among other things a shot hit the roof of the goal.

But PSV also had chances to equalize. After a smooth attack over several drives, Mathijs Bel opened up to Yorbe Vertessen who then delivered the ball to Mo Ihattaren. Unfortunately, his shot went just wide. Just before halftime Mo got another free shooting opportunity, but this time he could not put enough power in his shot to surprise the goalkeeper.

So both teams went to the dressing rooms with a score of 0-1 at halftime.

Soon after the restart, PSV came alongside. Mo received the ball on the right side and decided to strike from over 18 meters. This time he hit the ball full and it hit the nets behind the chance-less goalkeeper: 1-1. A great start of the second half!

PSV took control after this equalizer and had chances to take the lead for the first time this match. In the 40th minute, Mo turned the ball in front of the goal but unfortunately no PSV player could get his foot to it.

Even the strong Yorbe Vertessen could not give the home team the lead when he found himself in a 1-on-1 situation with the goalkeeper in the 42nd minute. However, the latter was able to make a clever save.

In the 50th minute, however, PSV took the lead anyway. The strong playing defender Shurandy Sambo steamed across the middle of the pitch like a real tank across the Oirschotse heath, and could only be stopped at the cost of a foul. However, the foul was committed inside the infamous lines, so the referee had no choice but to award a penalty. Despite the heat, Damian coolly scored the penalty: 2-1.

After this goal, PSV went in search of a bigger lead. Unfortunately the team was sloppy at times in the final phase and did not reward themselves. Yorbe was dangerous a couple of times and Mo tried his luck from distance. The substitute Dany Mathieu also came close to scoring the perhaps decisive 3-1 but failed to score.

Thus, with a 2-1 score, it remained exciting until the end. In the 67th minute, the home team suffered a severe setback. Despite being hardly dangerous in the 2nd half, Sparta brought the score to 2-2 out of nowhere. The substitute striker was able to take the ball around the 16 meters and shoot at goal. At first his shot was blocked, but again the ball landed exactly at his feet and this time he shot the ball past the chance-less Jurre Schaafsma.

Despite this serious setback, PSV went in search of the 3-2 in the final minutes. And almost succeeded. In the penultimate minute it was unlucky that a ball was cleared out of the Sparta goal mouth. And in the last minute a free kick by Mo went just wide on the wrong side of the post (for PSV).

Penalties had to decide who would go through to the next round. A lottery they say.

Sparta started the penalty series and scored all 5 penalties. Remarkable: all lefties scored on the Sparta side. However, on the PSV side Mo, Shurandy, Mathijs, Jurre and Beslan also scored their pingles. So that a garbage race ensued. The 6th Spartan to get behind the ball was a right-winger. And he was the first Rotterdam player to see his shot beautifully turned away by Jurre. It was then up to Dany to settle the game. And despite the pressure on his shoulders, he did not fail from the spot and so he shot PSV to the next round!

Overall, a deserved winner in which PSV was clearly the better team especially in the second half.

Next week the regular competition starts in Amsterdam against AFC.


Jurre Schaafsma; Mees Kreekels (52' Lars Koolen), Shurandy Sambo, Elgero King (46' Dany Mathieu), Jochem van Dijk; Mathijs Bel, Dennis Vos, Damian Timan (c) (52' Stijn van der Put); Mo Ihattaren, Yorbe Vertessen, Thijs Martens (52' Beslan Sagov).