teplice shine in rotterdam published: friday 7 november 2003, 0.55cet feyenoord 0-2 fk teplice goals from michal dolezal and jan rezek undo the 2002 winners at de kuip.
fk teplice gained a superb victory as goals in each half from michal dolezal and jan rezek overcame a feyenoord side that never recovered from the third-minute sending-off of gill swerts.
straka joy having beaten germany’s 1. fc kaiserslautern away from home in the first round, teplice were hopeful of a positive result, but coach frantisek straka could not have foreseen just how quickly this tie would turn in his side's favour.
swerts off after only two minutes rezek outpaced swerts to a forward pass and was brought down by the last defender who was duly sent off. feyenoord's troubles were compounded when dolezal stepped up to send the free-kick curling into the roof of the net off the outstretched hand of edwin zoetebier.
enormous task a man down and a goal behind after just three minutes, the task ahead for feyenoord was enormous and teplice refused to let them back into the game. on nine minutes shinji ono's free-kick was gathered by jakub kolár, but otherwise teplice dominated.
teplice in control the czech side were fleet of foot and full of running. pavel verbír teased the feyenoord back line, pavel horváth picked out the runners and henrich bencik, scorer of a goal in each leg against kaiserslautern, made a willing recipient. teplice were content to hold possession and let feyenoord chase the ball, then strike at pace when the opportunity arose, coming close again on 27 minutes when patrick paauwe headed off the line after horváth had broken into the box and chipped zoetebier.
rada stands tall feyenoord were largely reduced to playing the long ball to leonardo, but he was manacled by karel rada and the brazilian's frustration was evident as he was squeezed out of the game by the powerful defender. feyenoord's attacking options were reduced still further when ono failed to appear after the break, the victim of an injury late in the first half.
rezek makes it safe feyenoord upped the tempo either side of half-time, but teplice made the game safe on 57 minutes, rezek tapping in from close range after great work again from dolezal down the right. feyenoord did work shooting chances for thomas buffel then patrick paauwe in the latter stages, but kolár was equal to both to protect what looks like an insurmountable lead for the second leg on 27 november.
'tie not over' straka was naturally delighted with the outcome. "we are very pleased with the result, i am proud of my team," he said. "of course the red card made the difference, but i was very pleased with the way my team responded tactically. we were confident after beating kaiserslautern [in the first round], but they were just a good team - feyenoord are a mega team, so the tie is not over. we've won 90 minutes, but we've still got 90 to go."
'turning point' feyenoord coach bert van marwijk insisted, however, that his side would make amends in three weeks' time. "i am optimistic because now we know what teplice's strengths are," he said. "they will be play on the break at home. our team was young tonight and we did not have the ability to change our tactics. but i have faith that they will be able to adjust for the second leg."
