The Dutch football season got underway on Sunday with Feyenoord lifting the Johan Cruijff Schaal following a 4-2 penalty shootout win over PSV Eindhoven. The game finished 4-4 in normal time.
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Brian Priske officially took charge of his first game as Feyenoord coach and he named young talent Gjivai Zechiel in the midfield. They lined up in a 5-3-2. PSV had defensive issues and Jerdy Schouten was centre-back and Fredrik Oppegard was left-back.
After only nine minutes, PSV had the lead with Noa Lang racing onto a pass from Johan Bakayoko before lifting the ball high past Timon Wellenreuther, who was preferred to Justin Bijlow. PSV remained in control but just before the half hour mark, Oppegard made a silly foul on Zechiel and Santiago Gimenez made it 1-1 from the spot.
Some poor defending from PSV then allowed Bart Nieuwkoop to make it 2-1 for the Rotterdam side with a close-range finish. Walter Benitez then had to make an excellent save to stop Igor Paixao from tapping in a third before the break. From point-blank range, Benitez somehow managed to claw out the Brazilian’s effort.
Early in the second half, PSV equalised with a swift move featuring Joey Veerman and Malik Tillman ending with Luuk de Jong tapping in.
However, Feyenoord regained their lead six minutes later with another penalty netted by Gimenez. The striker was brought down by Benitez and he scored the spot kick.
Guus Til and Couhaib Driouech were brought on for PSV and after less than a minute on the field, the former fired PSV level inside the box as the ball fell at his feet.
Feyenoord’s response was once again swift as a free-kick routine was eventually pulled back to Antoni Milambo and the young midfielder beat Benitez to make it 4-3.
With ten minutes left, Wellenreuther brought down Til and De Jong made it 4-4 from the penalty spot. Despite already being on a yellow card, Wellenreuther remained on the pitch and he would be the hero of the penalty shootout.
The goalkeeper kept out Bakayoko’s spot kick and with Til also firing over the bar, Feyenoord remained calm to seal the victory.
The first piece of silverware this season goes to Feyenoord.
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