Our prediction for this Europa Conference League match:
Bloomfield Stadium will host Thursday’s Conference League game between Maccabi Tel Aviv and PSV. The Eredivisie outfit won the first leg (1-0) thanks to Cody Gakpo’s goal, and the bookies see them as favourites to win the return leg as well. PSV are enjoying a very successful season, and seeing that key players are back to contention, we believe that there is a big value in betting on Roger Schmidt’s troops.
To make things even better for the away side, all Ibrahim Sangare, Carlos Vinicius, and Olivier Boscagli are back from suspension. Mladen Krstajic’s men, on the other hand, face an uphill task in the return leg. Maccabi Tel Aviv are likely to adopt an attack-minded approach in the second leg, meaning that PSV will have a number of opportunities to score on the break. Defender Shahar Piven should be the only absentee in the home team.
Highlighted Player (Tal Ben Haim):
Tal Ben Haim is an experienced football player who is a product of Maccabi Tel Aviv youth school. He made 85 league appearances for Maccabi at senior level and in 2004 he moved to England, signing a three-year contract with Bolton Wanderers.
Ben Haim scored one goal in 88 league games for the English outfit and in 2007 he moved to Chelsea. After making just 13 league appearances for the Blues in the 2007/2008 season, he moved to Manchester City in the summer of 2008 for a fee of £5 million.
He made his Man City debut (league) against in a 4-2 loss to Aston Villa on 17 August, 2008. During his spell at the “island” he played for the likes of Sunderland, Portsmouth, West Ham and QPR as well and in 2013 he moved to Belgium, signing a deal with Standard Liege. At the end of the 2013/2014 season The Israeli defender returned to England as he signed a deal with Charlton Athletic. Ben Haim re-joined his hometown club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2015.
Highlighted Team (PSV):
Based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, PSV is a professional football club competing the top flight of the Dutch football, Eredivisie. PSV play their home games at the Phillips Stadium which can accommodate 35,000 people. Over the course of its 100-year-old history, PSV has become one of the country’s Big Three clubs that has dominated Eredivisie along with Ajax and Feyenoord.
Known as a stepping stone for future world-class stars, PSV propelled the likes of Ruud Gullit, Ronald Koeman, Romario, Ronaldo, Ruud van Nistelrooy and most recently Arjen Robben. The Boeren (Peasants) as they call themselves take pride in Eindhoven’s status of being a provincial city and never hide their Brabantian heritage which allow them to enjoy their uniqueness in the company of more prominent clubs from Dutch big cities.
The Peasants boast 23 domestic league titles and 9 KNVB Cup trophies. They have also managed two major European titles – European Cup in 1987-88 and UEFA Cup in 1977-78.