PSV sorrow turns to pride

By Berend Scholten

For PSV Eindhoven it has been a very successful season, despite the heartbreaking way they bowed out of the UEFA Champions League semi-finals against AC Milan just as a ticket to the Istanbul final seemed to be within their reach.

Hard blow
A goal in added time from Milan captain Massimo Ambrosini proved decisive even though Phillip Cocu subsequently scored again for PSV to make it 3-1 on the night. With goals from Ji-Sung Park and Cocu having earlier cancelled out their 2-0 defeat at the San Siro, it was an agonising late exit for the Dutch champions.

Alex's tears
A 3-3 aggregate score sent Milan to Istanbul by virtue of Ambrosini's away goal leaving PSV to bemoan the manner in which their immense efforts came to nothing. While the fans at the Philips Stadion continued to applaud the team at full time, defender Alex lay on the pitch with tears in his eyes.

National celebration
Bowing out on the same night that the Dutch marked the anniversary of the end of World War II with their Remembrance Day celebrations, PSV will - in time - come to celebrate their 2004/05 European campaign as being perhaps even greater than their success in the Eredivisie this season.

Civic celebration
Both were celebrated on Sunday when the team took a celebratory tour of Eindhoven and were greeted by 70,000 grateful fans. With a little champagne and beer soothing the pain of their Champions League defeat, PSV's players took their time to rejoice in what they have achieved this season.

'Mark must stay'
However, thoughts of the future were not far from anyone's minds, not least the future of captain Mark van Bommel whose contract expires this summer. As speeches were read, defender André Ooijer grabbed the microphone to exhort the crowd to chant "Mark moet blijven" - Mark must stay.

Experienced players
Van Bommel and Swiss midfield player Johann Vogel have both announced that they will be leaving at the end of a campaign which would end with a second trophy if Guus Hiddink's side overcome Willem II in the Dutch Cup final. Their experience has doubtless been felt in PSV's European odyssey this season, but fellow veteran Cocu took a calm view of their imminent departure.

Next generation
"Players like Mark van Bommel and Johann Vogel are important for this team," Cocu told uefa.com. "But it also has been important that the new players have adopted very quickly to the way we play football. That seems easy, but it's quite difficult, so they did a good job."

Usual story
With Dutch clubs always prone to losing players to higher bidders from abroad, the exit of such an important duo will be no disaster. They lost Arjen Robben, Dennis Rommedahl, Mateja Kezman, Kevin Hofland and Ronald Waterreus last summer, but thanks to Hiddink's signings, were arguably a stronger team this season.

Scouting policy
Discussing his scouting policy, Hiddink told uefa.com: "When I scout a player, I look at his footballing qualities obviously. On the pitch you can see a lot of about a player's mental strength and their commitment to the game. It is very important to find out what their personality is like."

Noteable success
His search for players for this season was a noteable success, as - marshalled by the experienced Cocu - his band of unknowns morphed into superstars in the Champions League. If Hiddink can reap a similar crop of youngsters next season, PSV might yet find themselves going one step further in 2005/06.