Heerenveen v Maccabi Petach Tikva: Preview
Updated: September 29, 2004, 5:11 PM UK
HEERENVEEN, September 29 (UEFA Cup) - Heerenveen coach Gert Jan Verbeek is optimistic about his side's chances of making it into the group stage of the UEFA Cup.
The Dutch side did not play their first leg game against Maccabi Petach-Tikva as the tie was cancelled because of a general strike in Israel.
This now leaves Thursday night's game to be the deciding fixture but Verbeek is confident his side can go through to the next round despite being on the receiving end of a 4-0 defeat to PSV Eindhoven on Saturday in the Eredivisie.
"If we play like we did in the first half against PSV we don't have to have any fear for any Dutch team and that also goes for this Israeli side,'' he said.
"We must play with our own qualities and we must not make ourselves frightened by the physical side of Maccabi Petach Tikva that we hear a lot about.
"If we play our game like we should then we don't have to notice their hardness anyway, we must be able to get around that.''
The players are also determined to come away with victory.
"If we can get a good result then we are really going into Europe,'' said defender Petter Hansson
"Because than we can play the group stages and we will play four games in any case.
"We are all going for it!''
The Heerenveen coach has no selection problems and is likely to field a side similar to that which played against PSV.
The Abe Lenstra stadium will be packed for the game with all 17,400 tickets now sold.
Maccabi are at a considerable disadvantage after they were forced to forfeit their home leg because of circumstances beyond their control.
The Israeli club booked its place in the competition by defeating AEK Larnaca in a qualifier.
Heerenveen 5 - 0 Maccabi Petach Tikva