Debrecen in need of a result at PSV
Friday, October 22, 2010
Article summary
Debreceni VSC cannot afford a fourth Group I loss when they visit PSV Eindhoven if they want their UEFA Europa League campaign to continue.
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Article body
PSV Eindhoven can put an end to Debreceni VSC's hopes of a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 with victory in the Netherlands, having beaten their guests 2-1 in Hungary on Matchday 3.
• With no points from three Group I games, another defeat would leave the Hungarian champions with no chance of finishing in the top half of the section.
Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time on Matchday 3 in what was Debrecen's maiden experience of a Dutch team.
• PSV have faced Hungarian opposition once before, taking on Ferencvárosi TC in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup first round, and winning 4-2 in Eindhoven and 2-0 in Budapest.
Match background
• PSV are unbeaten in eight home games (seven wins and one draw) since a 3-1 loss to Liverpool FC in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Debrecen have won only one of their last European seven away matches, beating PFC Litex Lovech 2-1 in this season's UEFA Europa League play-offs. They have yet to avoid defeat in four away games in UEFA club competition group stages.
Team facts
• PSV's Balász Dzsudzsák scored on Matchday 3 as he returned to the club where he started his career. The 23-year-old left his hometown side to join PSV in January 2008.
• Hired in April 2009 just a month after being dismissed by FC Schalke 04, Fred Rutten won three titles with PSV as assistant to Guus Hiddink in the mid-2000s. A defender, he spent his entire playing career with FC Twente, moving straight from the pitch to the dugout as assistant coach in 1988. First given the top job in 1999, he led Twente to triumph in the 2000/01 Dutch Cup before heading for PSV, initially to work with the youth team. He returned to Enschede in 2006, leaving for Gelsenkirchen two years later.
• Coach András Herczeg joined Debrecen as a youngster in 1970, and though he spent the latter part of his playing career elsewhere, he returned on retiring in 1988 to coach the club's youth and reserve teams. After winning two titles as assistant to Attila Supka in 2005 and 2006, Herczeg was given sole command in 2007 and has since won two league crowns and two Hungarian Cups of his own.
