After yesterday’s victory over SL Benfica, PSV also managed to win their second group stage match. Vincent Heilmann’s team convincingly swept aside RB Leipzig with a 5–0 scoreline. Gino Verhulst, nephew of former PSV player Cody Gakpo, looks back on the match with us. Verhulst: 'Winning the tournament remains the main goal.'
Tougher than it seemed
From the stands, PSV’s match may have looked easy due to the flood of chances, but Gino Verhulst saw things differently: 'It looked easier than it was, because it was actually quite a tough match. But we played well as a team, and it’s great when it ends 5–0.'
Frequent substitutions
Coach Vincent Heilmann frequently makes use of the rule that allows continuous substitutions. 'As players, we know the coach uses that rule well. Sometimes you only get a short amount of time, but when you’re on the pitch, you have to make the most of it and show what you can do. It’s also going to help us throughout the rest of the tournament by spreading the workload across the squad.'
Topscorer
Yesterday, an interview appeared in the media with Austyn Jones, who expressed his desire to become the tournament’s topscorer. Jones scored again today, but Verhulst found the net twice against RB Leipzig, meaning both players now have three goals in the tournament. 'The ultimate goal is to win the tournament as a team,' Verhulst said, 'but of course it would be great to become the topscorer or best player of the tournament.'
Maintaining the unbeaten run
Although PSV has already secured a place in the knockout stage, Verhulst wants to finish the group stage with another win. 'We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Our coach also told us that he’s never lost a match at the Otten Innovation Cup, and he wants to keep it that way.'