Davy Propper, Jetro Willems, Luuk de Jong, Jurgen Locadia, Jeffrey Bruma and PSV Player of The Tournament and goalkeeper Jeroen Zoet are all Dutch players that have made Dutch football proud again after a long wait. While PSV
might have been eliminated from this season's Champions League, the team from Endovein will ow out with their heads held high having re-established PSV as the team to look out for in the near future.
The man at the centre of the vibe is no one else but club legend and former Barcelona defensive midfielder Philipe Cocu. Cocu has thus guided PSV to their first Champions League participation in eight years since 2006/2007 season. Before then, during the two spell period of the present Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink (1987/1988 and 2004/2005), the team lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup (Champions League equivalent) and also reached the semi-finals of the 2004/2005 Champions League before losing out on away goals to an AC Milan side that won the competition twice in seven years (2002-2007) under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti with star players Andry Shevchenko, Clerance Seedorf, Hernan Crespo, Paolo Madini and Andre Pirlo.
It is sad that a club with the European and Dutch football status of PSV struggled for success and consistency after the exit of the former Real Madrid and South Korean manager. PSV are also a former UEFA Cup (Europa League) winner in 1978 and also a 22 times champion of the Dutch League.
Every struggle encountered by the team went down after the appointment of Cocu in 2012 then on caretaker basis and the permanent basis in 2013. Under Cocu, PSV won their first League title in seven years after bitter rivals Ajax won the League four times in a row . Presently PSV are top of the league with 66 points from 27 matches , losing only once and drawing six times. They also boast a goal difference of 43 which is only bettered by the 48 gained by Ajax. The near demise of Boeren (Farmers) as the are called maybe attributed to the constant and massive sale of their star players names Ji Sung Park (Manchester United), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Pyong Lee (Tottenham Hotspurs), Alex (Chelsea), Jeffrey Brouma (Aston Villa), Jerferson Farfan (Schalke 04) and Gommes (Tottenham). Presently the Endovein team appears to keep their players more as only Memphis Deepay was a star sale last season after scoring 22 league goals in 30 games to fire them to the title .
This season in the Champions League after an eight year absence , PSV qualified for the knockout in a group that had the likes of Manchester United, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg. Subsequently PSV showed their class by playing a 0-0 draw with Spanish Club Athletico Madrid in Endovein, after playing most of the game with 10 men. That did not change in the second leg in the Spanish capital as PSV nearly went ahead after Jurgen Locadia's shot hit the crossbar. At the end of extra-time , PSV were painfully eliminated after youngster Luciano Narsingh missed his own spot kick (8-7 to Atletico it ended ).
PSV have shown that they have one of the World's best emerging tacticians in manager Philipe Cocu. They also have shown they are ready to mix with the big clubs of European football after a long absence . Though it has been a long gradual wait for the Boeren faithful , results have shown the wait was surely worth it, PSV are certainly on the right Path.
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