05 october 2024 – 22:05
Sparta Rotterdam traveled to the Philips Stadium tonight battered. Trainer Jeroen Rijsdijk did not have Teo Quintero, Charles-Andreas Brym and Jonathan de Guzman at his disposal. That is why Rick Meissen and Pelle Clement returned to the basic formation of the Rotterdam team. Said Bakari also started in his first starting position this season, replacing Boyd Reith. Sparta started the match with an undefeated status in away games this season, but knew in advance that maintaining this series would be a very difficult story against the reigning national champion.
The first chance of the match was for Sparta Rotterdam. After an excellent attack, Mohamed Nassoh was the final stop, but his shot went narrowly wide of Walter Benitez’s goal. The second big chance was a hit. Sparta combined from its own sixteen to the enemy goal and with tiki-taka Verschueren served striker Lauritsen who did not hesitate and scored the 0-1. Sparta was then the most dangerous team in the Philips Stadium, but was not sharp enough in the final phase to get the 0-2 on the scoreboard.
In minute 24, PSV thought they had leveled through Guus Til. The midfielder was outlawed by a cross from the right, but headed the ball straight to Nick Olij. With some luck, PSV equalized in the 34th minute. Boscagli shot and the shot was deflected by Arno Verschueren, leaving Olij with no chance. Sparta’s defense was then broken and PSV took the lead. A cross from Boscagli was beautifully shot in by Luuk de Jong and after a good start by Sparta it was 2-1 for PSV.
Just before half time, Tobias Lauritsen had to stop the fight after several falls, one of which caused him to hit his head on the field. He was replaced by Shunsuke Mito who took over the left winger position from Mo Nassoh. The former PSV player played behind striker Verschueren. For example, Sparta’s attack was quite mixed up after the Norwegian target man’s failure. Just before half-time, Sparta had a huge chance to equalize after Pelle Clement laid the ball ready for Mito, but he did not succeed with his passes, leaving PSV unscathed.
Just after halftime, Nick Olij made a good save on a Guus Til header, after which he shot the ball beautifully at the feet of Camiel Neghli, who was on his way to Walter Benitez. As a result, Matteo Dams had to pull the emergency brake and Danny Makkelie had no choice but to give the PSV player a red card. As the stadium clock almost ticked sixty minutes, Shunsuke Mito shot concealedly towards Benitez, who still had difficulty handling the ball. Unfortunately, no one was ready for the rebound. Ninety seconds later Mo Nassoh thought the same, he also shot on goal, but Benitez had no problem with this.
In the 67th minute there was a header duel in which Pelle Clement and Luuk de Jong collided. Both players could not continue and were substituted with a white substitute. Ricardo Pepi came on at PSV and Joshua Kitolano came on at Sparta. Sparta tried to get through PSV’s stiff defense with the man more, but was not successful. Instead of looking for the sides, too often they looked for the through ball through the middle that did not confuse the PSV defense.
It was a bit poignant to see that the reigning national champions were looking for plenty of time at the set pieces to complete the 90 minutes as much as possible without wanting to see the ball roll. That can also be seen as a compliment to Sparta, which played well in Eindhoven. For the last ten minutes, Jeroen Rijsdijk brought three fresh players onto the field. Ayoub Oufkir, Mike Kleijn and Boyd Reith came on for Said Bakari, Djevencio van der Kust and Camiel Neghli. Shortly after that triple substitution, PSV had a great chance to make it 3-1 and the ball disappeared onto the crossbar above Olij.
Sparta still had eight minutes of injury time to force an equalizer, but despite having more men, Sparta had more chances in the first half than after halftime. The biggest chances came in injury time. In the 93rd minute for Shunsuke Mito who suddenly found himself face to face with Benitez, but shot the ball over the goal. Then Rick Meissen had the equalizer on his head, but Benitez grabbed the ball from under the crossbar. Mike Eerdhuijzen also thought he would be the Spartan hero of the evening, but his equalizer was judged as offside by the VAR and that was a matter of inches.
Zero points are of no use to you, but what Sparta showed against the national champion tonight creates expectations for the upcoming home match against Almere City in two weeks.
Sparta Rotterdam line-up:
Nick Olij, Said Bakari (83. Boyd Reith), Rick Meissen, Mike Eerdhuijzen, Djevencio van der Kust (83. Mike Kleijn), Metinho, Camiel Neghli (83. Ayoub Oufkir), Pelle Clement (68. Joshua Kitolano), Tobias Lauritsen (41. Shunsuke Mito), Arno Verschueren, Mohamed Nassoh
