Dutch Football - KNVB Cup - Stevens sees positives in Cup loss

"The intellectualisation
of football has
always foundered
on a simple problem-
-the players. Doing
all your most
rewarding thinking
with your feet seems
to dull the philo-
sophical impulse.
Unless, of course,
you are Dutch.
According to legend,
Europeans played
a moronic, muscular
version of the world's
game, until Holland
proclaimed its vision
of total football in the
1974 World Cup,
and enlightenment
dawned."

From:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football

Stevens sees positives in Cup loss

Thursday 13 November 2008

Despite PSV's elimination from the KNVB Cup at the hands of AZ Alkmaar (1-0) PSV coach Huub Stevens was upbeat after the game.

"It's a shame we are out of the Cup, but this game has given me confidence for the future," Stevens said.

PSV suffered their third consecutive defeat in Alkmaar en the eighth of the new season.

Stevens said he thought his team had made it an "open game".

"I think everybody has seen a good match. PSV are not doing well at the moment and there are plenty of problems, but I saw a good PSV today. It's always tough coming to Alkmaar, no matter how well you are doing. I think we can go home with our heads up."

His AZ-counterpart Louis van Gaal dubbed the cup tie a 'top game'.

The AZ coach said he thought the game could have gone either way: "But we created most chances though. Based on that I think we deserved to win."

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