New blend powers PSV

By Mark Chaplin

Life is as good as it can get for PSV Eindhoven at the moment - or certainly as good as it has been since a balmy May evening in Stuttgart in 1988, when the Dutch club won the European Champion Clubs' Cup in a penalty shoot-out against SL Benfica.

Great guns
The men from the southern Netherlands are galloping along in good spirits at the top of the Eredivisie: a 4-0 win at De Graafschap at the weekend keeps them five points ahead of surprise fellow front-runners AZ Alkmaar. PSV have also broken AFC Ajax's 33-year-old Eredivisie record of 1,082 minutes without conceding a goal. The record now stands at 1,110 minutes and counting.

European progress
European horizons are also opening up for PSV at long last. The 1-1 draw against Arsenal FC in Eindhoven two weeks ago means that they have qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout stages for the first time since the competition began.

Mounting frustration
Eight seasons of mounting frustration have now been consigned to history - a ten-point haul from five matches putting them into the last 16. PSV tonight travel to Greece for their final Group E game against Panathanaikos FC knowing that a point will give them first place in the group and a top seeding in the knockout draw.

Nostalgic eye
Coach Guus Hiddink will prepare eagerly for fresh challenges next spring, while casting a nostalgic eye back to the halcyon days of 16 years ago. Hiddink was also in charge of PSV then, overseeing a talented and robust side containing names such as goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen, defenders Ronald Koeman and Barry van Aerle, and winger Gerald Vanenburg

New-look squad
PSV are making progress with a reassembled squad this time around. Hiddink went into the season shorn of attacking talents Mateja Kezman and Arjen Robben, who both joined Chelsea FC in the summer, while goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus also crossed the North Sea to England and Manchester City FC.

Rover returns
Those coming in included old hands - the return of Phillip Cocu after six years with FC Barcelona - and young promise - talented 19-year-old playmaker Jefferson Farfán from Peruvian side C. Alianza Lima. Hiddink's new blend has paid off handsomely.

Drive for success
"There is a very strong drive in this team to achieve success, we have brought in young players to mix with the older ones and everybody is pulling together with great commitment and mental strength," said the PSV coach. "The great blessing is that the young players have picked up tactical things very quickly, and they have also come up to expectations and done what was needed at European level."

Hurdle overcome
There is considerable relief at PSV that a crucial psychological hurdle has been surmounted in the Champions League. The team amassed ten points last season but were edged out by eventual finalists AS Monaco FC and losing semi-finalists RC Deportivo La Coruña, and the subsequent UEFA Cup run ended in quarter-final elimination against Newcastle United FC.

Tricky situation
"I have to pay a compliment to my team," said Hiddink. "We have ten points again, but this time we've made it. The Arsenal game was a tricky situation because we were thinking about two matches. We heard at one stage that it was 2-1 to Panathanoikos [at Rosenborg BK] and a worst-case scenario could have happened again - happily it didn't."

Improbable dream
And so, Hiddink's dream of lifting Europe's most prestigious club trophy a second time lives on.