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Europa League Play-Off Preview: Bnei Yehuda – PSV

The Israeli side will be keen to upset their Dutch opponents, who missed out on Champions League football for the first time in years…

Aug 18, 2009 11:45:51 PM

Balasz Dzsudzsak, Sander Boschker and Ronnie Stam, FC Twente - PSV (Foto PROSHOTS)

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Balasz Dzsudzsak, Sander Boschker and Ronnie Stam, FC Twente - PSV (Foto PROSHOTS)

Teams

Kick Off: Thursday, August 20, 2009, 18:30 CET. Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv

European Rookies

Bnei Yehuda prefer to field homegrown players, as they’ve only four foreigners in their squad. Shot stopper Dele Aiyenugba is from Nigeria, defender Ivan Garrido from Colombia, midfielder Pedro Galvan from Argentina, and Sinisa Linic is Croatian.

Their head coach, Guy Luzon, is one of the youngest managers around at the age of 34. However, Luzon is quite experienced as a coach. He started his coaching career in 2001 at Maccabi Petach Tikva when he was only 26 years old.

The hosts will play Europa League football for the second time in history after their previous UEFA Cup participation in 2006-07, when they were beaten 6-0 on aggregate by Bulgarian outfit Lokomotiv Sofia.

The Israeli side had to beat three opponents to reach the final play-off round for the Europa League. Simurg, Dinaburg and Pacos de Ferreira were all beaten without too many problems.

Full Of Confidence

PSV missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in twelve years after finishing only fourth on the Eredivisie table. The Eindhoven side appointed Fred Rutten as their new head coach to help the club back to the Champions League.

The Eindhoven side have added two experienced players to their squad with Andre Ooijer and Orlando Engelaar brought in to help talented youngsters such as Dirk Marcellis, Erik Pieters, Balazs Dzsudzsak, Nordin Amrabat and Ola Toivonen develop into real class acts.

PSV started their Europa League adventure with two matches against Bulgarian side Cherno More Varna. Despite playing far from impressive in both matches, they recorded two solid 1-0 wins and were never really troubled.

Their domestic season started in quite a disappointing fashion with a 3-3 draw against newly promoted side VVV. They bounced back with a solid 1-1 against last year’s number two Twente and a rather spectacular 4-3 victory against Ajax.

FORM GUIDE

Bnei Yehuda

06 Aug Pacos de Ferreira 0-1 Bnei Yehuda (Europa League)
28 July Bnei Yehuda 1-0 Pacos de Ferreira (Europa League)
23 July Dinaburg 0-1 Bnei Yehuda (Europa League)
16 July Bnei Yehuda 1-1 Dinaburg (Europa League)
09 July Bnei Yehuda 3-0 Simurg (Europa League)

PSV

16 Aug PSV 4-3 Ajax (Eredivisie)
09 Aug Twente 1-1 PSV (Eredivisie)
06 Aug Cherno More 0-1 PSV (Europa League)
02 Aug PSV 3-3 VVV (Eredivisie)
30 July PSV 1-0 Cherno More (Europa League)

TEAM NEWS

Bnei Yehuda

Head coach Guy Luzon doesn’t have any known injury troubles and will most likely start the match in an attacking 4-2-3-1 formation, with Moshe Biton most likely starting the match as lone striker.

Possible starting XI: Aiyenugba, Raly, Mori, Garrido, Edri, Zhairi, Radi, Abu Zaid, Galvan, Baldut, Atar

PSV

PSV coach Fred Rutten will be without young defender Dirk Marcellis and experienced midfielder Orlando Engelaar due to various injury trouble.

Furthermore, defender Stanislav Manolev and Andre Ooijer are unavailable following the one-match ban they received for picking up two yellow cards.

Possible starting XI: Isaksson, Kromkamp, Rodriguez, Salcido, Pieters, Simons, Bakkal, Afellay, Dzsudzsak, Lazovic, Toivonen

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bnei Yehuda – Pedro Galvan

The Argentinean attacker has already scored three goals for Bnei Yehuda during their Europa League adventure so far and will be keen to add to his tally against PSV. The 24-year-old attacking midfielder could attract the interest of a bigger European team with a good performance and won’t let such a chance go by just like that. Galvan could cause the PSV defence a difficult evening with his intelligent passing.

PSV – Balazs Dzsudzsak

The left winger was the absolute man of the match in PSV’s heroic 4-3 win against Ajax last weekend. Dzsudzsak bagged a brace and set up another goal. The Hungarian international will do his utmost to continue his fine form and won’t hesitate to test the Bnei goalie with one of his famous long range strikes. His superb crosses from the left wing could pose a serious threat for the Israeli side’s defence.

PREDICTION

Both sides are still in the early stages of their domestic seasons, but the home side have already won six consecutive Europa League qualifiers. Nevertheless, PSV will be full of confidence following their impressive victory against Ajax last weekend and their individual class should prove to be too much for the Israeli side. Bnei Yehuda has already shown that they’re extremely solid at the back though, so the guests are unlikely to grab a large win.

Bnei Yehuda 0-1 PSV

Stefan Coerts, Goal.com

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