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Feyenoord toothless against Swedish wall
Thursday 18 September 2008
Despite the good intentions and
the return of Jonathan De Guzman to the team Feyenoord
were unable to threaten Swedish Kalmar FF tonight in
a sparsely filled De Kuip stadium.
The Swedes had the best chances
on the counter attack and managed to cash in on one
of them when Viktor Elm was allowed a free header by
the Feyenoord defense.
This means Feyenoord will have
to score at least twice in Sweden in two weeks time,
when the teams meet for the second leg - a difficult
task given the recent form of the team.
After two years of absence from
European football an early exit again looms for the
once top team.
In Kalmar the 2001 UEFA Cup winners
encountered a team with a far from impressive track
record.
Two years ago FC Twente knocked
the Swedes out of the Intertoto competition and in it's
entire history the club only once survived the first
round of a European cup competition.
Feyenoord drew some faith from
these statistics, but once they were out on the pitch
the Swedes turned out to be anything but a small opponent.
In the first half the current number
1 of the Swedish league sat back and watched what Feyenoord
had to offer, giving away few chances.
The home team went closest when
De Guzman was allowed a free header from five meters
out, but the former Canadian's effort went wide.
The Swedes must have concluded
that Feyenoord are indeed no more than a big name, because
after the break they left the trenches and came out
a lot more offensive.
The result was the most interesting
phase of the game, with both teams going close a few
times.
The best chances were for Kalmar
however, and it was only due to Feyenoord keeper Henk
Timmer that the visitors didn't take the lead early
in the second half.
Feyenoord also got some more room
up front, but the build up play of the Rotterdammers
was often way too sloppy to get to any real possibilities
Twenty minutes before the end central
defender Kevin Hofland had to be replaced with an injury
and his replacement Greene seemed clueless when Viktor
Elm opened the score in the 71st minute from a freekick
of his brother Rasmus Elm (0-1).
Verbeek tried to enforce something
by putting on the recovered Roy Makaay and Saturday's
double goal scorer Diego Biseswar, but apart from some
off target shots Feyenoord achieved nothing and are
again on the verge of going out in the first round.
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