The Dutch morning papers speak of a ‘sizzling final’ after the match between PSV and Ajax. The people of Eindhoven won the TOTO KNVB Cup on Sunday by winning the final in De Kuip with 2-1. The newspapers also pay attention to the change of goalkeepers at Ajax, the role of the video referee and the view of PSV coach Roger Schmidt in the cup tournament.
De Volkskrant Maarten Stekelenburg – who, after being injured for months, was preferred over André Onana – did not go free with Cody Gakpo’s second PSV goal. “Goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg didn’t even react to the slider, like the old goalkeeper he is, tired and without rhythm. Ajax: gambled in the roulette of goalkeepers and lost, while on the other hand the not undisputed Yvon Mvogo distinguished himself with saves.”
† @PSV It all turns around in the second half, thanks to goals from Érick Gutiérrez and Cody Gakpo: 2-1! † † ESPN #?? #psvaja pic.twitter.com/4ciyVbMxp3
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) Apr 17, 2022
“Ajax is perhaps the slightly better team across the board, more experienced, with a little more quality and stability in the game. But PSV never gave up, has more attacking speed in the team and certainly remained dangerous in the final phase,” writes de Volkskrant, that PSV calls a ‘strange, sometimes even weird and in any case changeable team’, which ‘sometimes falls deeply and usually gets back up again, which can peak fantastically and fail dramatically’. The introduction of Mohamed Ihattaren by Ajax coach Erik ten Hag is at the same time labeled as ‘no more than a provocation’. “Especially after the defeat met with scornful laughter by the winners, who fed their hunger for success with a spontaneous, extreme burst of joy.”
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‘PSV in blistering cup final past Ajax’, headlines The Telegraph† The newspaper saw Ajax ‘dictating’ in the first half, but calls the PSV that came out of the dressing room in the second half ‘annoyed’. In the first minutes after the break, PSV brushed away the Ajax lead, noted by Ryan Gravenberch, thanks to goals from Érick Gutiérrez and Gakpo. “PSV held up well, with the masterful play of midfielders Sangaré and Gutierrez particularly striking. Both won duels on the assembly line and Sangaré in particular managed to squeeze his long extending legs between everything.”
“To dismiss it as luck alone is too little credit for a coach who has been taking the cup tournament very seriously for two years now,” it wrote. General Newspaper about PSV’s cup win. “You have to give that to Schmidt: he is the first PSV coach in years to take the cup tournament really seriously. No more fiddling like in the past with embarrassing eliminations against first division clubs such as Roda JC, NAC and RKC. That last game went down in history as the pot with 11 substitutions in the base under Mark van Bommel.”
Ryan Gravenberch opens the scoring in the cup final! † ESPN #?? #psvaja pic.twitter.com/SFizefSeu7
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) Apr 17, 2022
Also the Eindhovens Dagblad saw Schmidt ‘win the prize he so desperately wanted to win’. “The eyes of PSV coach Roger Schmidt have been shining over the past two years when it came to the KNVB Cup. It has something magical for him, the game with the drawing papers and balls in a bowl. Rarely has there been a coach in Eindhoven who was apparently so happy with the second national prize. He also wanted to win it in the Netherlands at all costs, something the trainer had already achieved in Austria and China.”
The newspaper states that PSV already seemed dead and buried after the first half, but showed resilience after the break and took the game to itself. “PSV thus belied all predictions of the experts, who foresaw that the team would implode after Thursday and that it would not be able to hold out against Ajax. Nothing was further from the truth: PSV fought and fought for every meter for ninety minutes. Of course Ajax still had chances, but PSV also had them. Where possible, Yvon Mvogo made an excellent save.”
The Parool writes that the VAR put ‘a heavy stamp’ on the match, by canceling two goals from Ajax due to offside. “In both cases it was centimeter and perhaps millimeter work. Video referee Dennis Higler was relentless twice. Tadic’s toe and Brobbey’s heel crossed out two beautiful goals from Ajax,” says the newspaper, which speaks of a “wonderful football fight”. “PSV radiated more than Ajax that it wanted to win the cup. The team undoubtedly felt strengthened by the crucial moments when the goals were disallowed.”
“Ajax is always a team under construction, but at the moment the future is very uncertain,” writes NRC after the cup final. “A technical director is missing, important players are leaving (Gravenberch, Noussair Mazraoui) or are of age (Daley Blind, Tadic) and the coach who brought the club back to the European sub-top is going for a new adventure at Manchester United. This defeat can be digested for Ajax if the club becomes champion and immediately qualifies for the Champions League. That perspective is necessary to remain attractive to players and trainers, something that is now even more important than before.”
“Ajax received a lot of compliments this season, the often rattling PSV barely”, concludes Fidelity, which thinks that this will increase the pressure on Ajax in the title fight. “Getting to the Champions League through the title is a must in Amsterdam, while Ajax also showed in the cup final that it is far from top form. The resilience with which the team of Ten Hag recently won difficult matches in the nick of time was not there this time. And at PSV it is.”