| PSV
lineup: Ronald Waterreus, Kasper Bøgelund, André Ooijer, Kevin
Hofland, Jan Heintze, Dennis Rommedahl, Mark van Bommel, Theo Lucius, Wilfred Bouma, Mateja
Kezman and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Feyenoord
lineup: Edwin
Zoetebier, Brett Emerton, Glenn Loovens, Kees van Wonderen, Tomasz Rzasa, Paul Bosvelt, Jon Dahl Tomasson, Shinji Ono,
Bonaventure Kalou, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Robin van Persie.
With so much riding on this match
it got off to a tight, tense, high-energy start. Robin van Persie hit the
outside of the post within theng 5 minutes and Kees van Wonderen
picked up the first yellow card in the 7th. During the next
quarter of an hour the match was pretty equally balanced with Feyenoord
looking perhaps slightly more likely to score. There was so much close
marking that there was little room to build up coordinated attacking
moves. In the 37th minute Pierre van Hooijdonk almost got his foot to the ball,
under Waterreus' nose, from a Van Persie freekick in one of the few
goalmouth opportunities of the 1st half. In the dying seconds a Kevin
Hofland blunder gave P-Air the chance to pounce and put the Rotterdammers ahead. Erik
Gerets obviously had a few things to say to his players in the dressing
room and it didn't take long for PSV to strike back after the break,
Mateja Kezman equalizing in the 47th. Thatd up the match but it
remained a scrappy affair with chances for both teams but no more goals.
In injury time Hofland took a knock to the head by Bosvelt that brought
back memories of the defender's recent concussion problems but after a
few worrying moments he was back on the move, only to pick up a yellow
card which means he misses next week's return. Feyenoord will
certainly be happy to come away with an away goal in the knowledge that,
on their own turf and with the Kuip fans behind them, they have a really
good chance of beating PSV next week and earning themselves a place in the
semi-final of the UEFA Cup! I can't finish without remarking on
"Japanese Wizard" Shinji Ono's calm, fine, professional
performance - he just keeps on getting better!
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