Friday, August 23, 2024

Holland the Cup

 

The Cup final opposed PSV Eindhoven to Vitesse Arnhem. One of the strongest teams in Europe against up and coming squad, but a much weaker squad. Still, it was not an easy final and certainly not a walk-over for PSV Eindhoven – they prevailed, but just 1-0.

Vitesse lost the battle for the Cup, but was still lucky – because of Ajax: its ban to play in the European tournaments moved PSV Eindhoven to the European Champions Cup and thus Vitesse took the place of PSV in the Cup Winners Cup. Nice, but they had strong period anyway and were playing in Europe recently anyway, As for the squad, it was modest, compared to Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, and even weak Feyenoord. No stars, but sturdy second-raters, who played well collectively.

PSV Eindhoven lost the championship, but still finished the season with a trophy. This was not only their 6th Cup, but also 3rd consecutive. To a point, Cup formats suited best already aging team: the old masters would prevail in single combat. Standing from left: Koot, Popescu, Bosman, Erwin Koeman, van Broekelen. First row: Romario, Bwalya, Heintze, Linskens.

Some changes were inevitable – wonderful Romanian Popescu arrived plus Erwin Koeman from Belgian Mechelen. PSV Eindhoven was determined to stay strong.