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Uefa Cup Preview: Inter-Feyenoord
Inter - Feyenoord | News Archive

Inter's striker Nicola Ventola (Allsport)
04/03/2002. Inter-Feyenoord

AT STAKE

On the contrary to their city arch-rivals Milan, who will face Borussia Dortmund in the other semifinal, Inter don't consider the Uefa Cup as the primary goal of their season.

After many years of huge disappointments, the Nerazzurri are finally close to their first Scudetto since the 1988-1989 season, and even if Cuper's men have done very well in Europe so far, most of their energies are projected towards a domestic league triumph.

Nevertheless, the superb determination that allowed Inter to defeat Valencia at the Mestalla in the second leg of the quarterfinals was a clear evidence of how focused the Nerazzurri are every time they play.

The Uefa Cup was a sort of "punishment" for Feyenoord, who joined this competition after being eliminated at the end of the first phase of the Champions League, but the Dutch side did very well in their three qualifying rounds, eliminating Freiburg and Glasgow Rangers, as well as their fellow countrymen PSV Eindhoven.

Just like their opponents, the Rotterdam team are fighting to win their domestic league: in the Eredivisie, Van Marwjik's men currently trail Ajax by two points, with one match less played.

TEAM NEWS AND PROBABLE LINEUPS

Inter: coach Cuper will miss his regular keeper Toldo, who was suspended for two rounds after having been ejected in the second leg match of the quarterfinal against Valencia and will be replaced by Fontana. Superstar Vieri will likely be rested, while Brazilian striker Ronaldo should start from the bench. Argentinean skipper Javier Zanetti is doubtful due to an injury to his left ankle.

Probable lineup: Fontana; Simic, Materazzi, Cordoba, Emre; Conceiçao, Di Biagio, C.Zanetti, Seedorf; Ventola, Kallon
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Feyenoord: The major worry for coach Van Marwjik regards the recovery of influential centre-back Patrick Paauwe, who suffered an injury in last Sunday's clash with RKC Waalwjik. Loovens, Van Wonderen and Sprockel have the flu and their conditions will be checked a few hours before the kickoff.

Probable lineup: Zoetebier; Emerton, De Haan, Gyan, Rzasa; Kalou, Bosvelt, Ono, Leonardo; Tomasson, Van Hooijdonk

ROAD TO THE SEMIS

INTER

First Round
vs. Brasov 3-0 - at Brasov 3-0
Second round
vs. Wisla Krakow 2-0 - at Wisla Krakow 0-1
Third Round
at Ipswich 0-1 ?vs. Ipswich 4-1
Fourth Round
vs. AEK Athens 3-1 ?at AEK Athens 2-2
Quarterfinals
vs. Valencia 1-1 ?at Valencia 1-0
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FEYENOORD

Eliminated in the first qualifying round of the Champions League

Third Round
vs. Freiburg 1-0 ?at Freiburg 2-2
Fourth Round
at Glasgow Rangers 1-1 ?vs. Glasgow Rangers 3-2
Quarterfinals
at PSV Eindhoven 1-1 ?vs. PSV Eindhoven 1-1 (5-4 on pk's)

FORM GUIDE

Inter last 6 matches: DDWWWW. The Nerazzurri are on a roll and keep on doing great both in the Serie A and in the Uefa Cup. Three straight wins in the domestic league allowed Cuper's men to build a 3-point advantage over Roma with five rounds to go, but in the meanwhile Inter also managed to qualify for this semifinal, eliminating Liga giants Valencia despite a 1-1 home draw in the first leg match.

Feyenoord last 6 matches: WDWDWD. The guests have alternated wins and draws in their last six contests, but even the ties can be considered as positive results for them. Those against PSV secured Feyenoord a spot in this semifinal, while the one against RKC Waalwjik in the last round of the Dutch Eredivise allowed them to recover one point on league leaders Ajax, who suffered a tough defeat against Vitesse.

SOCCERAGE PREDICTION

This is a very difficult match to predict. Both teams are fighting for the win in their respective leagues, but this is a semifinal and nobody will give up before the starting whistle. Inter's main worry will be not conceding a goal, so I expect Cuper's men to play with patience: a low-scoring win would be a good result for the Nerazzurri. On their part, the guests will try to exploit their counterattacks, but Inter's defence has been looking quite reliable of late and scoring won't be easy for the Dutch side. Narrow victory for the home team.

Inter 1 Feyenoord 0

ANALYSIS Van Hooijdonk set to spring surprise

Wednesday 3rd April 2002

Stop Christian Vieri from scoring and you stop Inter from winning has been the mantra of coaches throughout Serie A this season, but it is easier said than done.

The same thing goes for Feyenoord striker Pierre Van Hooijdonk in the Uefa Cup this season, and it his prolific strike rate going into the semi-finals that gives the Dutch side hope and Inter coach Hector Cuper cause for concern.

To Feyenoord coach Bert Van Marwijk's relief, Vieri will not be playing on Thursday as Cuper keeps his sights firmly set on capturing Inter's first Scudetto since 1989. But then you could say Van Marwijk deserves a bit of luck.

Like Inter, Feyenoord are still in the hunt on both European and domestic fronts, but their chances in both have been put to the test this week as Van Marwijk watched his defence collapse around him.

Van Marwijk was already without flu victims Kees van Wonderen, Civard Sprockel and Glenn Loovens for Sunday's draw with RKC when he lost Patrick Paauwe to a sprained ankle during that game.

The first three had still not fully recovered on Wednesday but are expected to play, while Paauwe will miss out.

Thankfully for Van Marwijk, he has not had to worry about his attacking options.

Although the Feyenoord coach might have hoped for an easier opponent as his side attempt to reach their first European final since their Uefa Cup win in 1974, in Van Hooijdonk he knows he has the man to deliver when it matters most.

Although the free-kick specialist will not expect a series of chances against Inter, he has once again shown this season that he can make something out of almost nothing.

The Eredivisie's leading scorer has ensured that the Rotterdam club have every chance of lifting the title, and he has almost single handedly shot Feyenoord into the Uefa Cup semi-finals.

Having plotted Freiburg's downfall with a brilliant free kick, Van Hooijdonk set up a quarter-final tie with PSV Eindhoven with two further dead-ball strikes against Rangers - and also turned provider for a third.

The tall striker then scored both Feyenoord goals in the 2-2 draw on aggregate against their Dutch rivals in the quarter-finals, including the last-gasp strike that took the tie to a penalty shoot-out.

While Van Hooijdonk is the Feyenoord dangerman with 29 goals from 39 appearances this season, Jon Dahl Tomasson has also weighed in with a valuable 21 strikes in 35 games.

Although the goals have recently dried up somewhat for the Denmark international, Barcelona remain among his suitors.

Whether the two strikers continue their prolific form against Inter will depend in a large part on the supply from the wings.

Unfortunately for Van Marwijk, just as Ivory Coast forward Bonaventure Kalou has finally appeared to have found his form on the right flank, left midfielder Robin van Persie has found himself in the coach's bad books.

The 18-year-old was left out of the starting line up for the 1-1 draw against RKC Waalwijk after showing up late having forgotten to move his clock forward when the time changed at the weekend.

He came off the bench in the second half, but then incurred the wrath of Van Marwijk by overruling Van Hooijdonk at a free-kick.

Despite that the youngster is still expected to start on the left especially given that Ebi Smolarek is out with injury and Leonardo still hasn't hit top form.

The build up to Thursday's game has been dominated by talk of a possible all-Milan derby as San Siro rivals AC Milan take on Borussia Dortmund in the other semi-final.

But Feyenoord too have a special motivation. The final will take place at their De Kuip stadium in May, and there could be no place like home for Van Hooijdonk to cap a formidable season in Europe.

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