Van Hooijdonk at the double as Feyenoord down Dortmund

ROTTERDAM (The Netherlands): Pierre van Hooijdonk struck twice as Dutch side Feyenoord defeated German champions Borussia Dortmund 3-2 to win the UEFA Cup final here Wednesday.

Deadball specialist van Hooijdonk scored two goals in a lethal seven-minute first half burst as Dortmund’s hopes of adding the UEFA Cup to their Bundesliga crown were dashed at the De Kuip Stadium.Though Dortmund’s hopes were raised when they fought back to 2-1 early in the second half via a Marcio Amoroso penalty, Feyenoord added to their tally with a third through Danish international Jon Dahl Tomasson.

A spectacular volleyed goal from Dortmund’s Czech striker Jan Koller ensured a nervous finish for Feyenoord - playing on their home ground - but the Dutch were not to be denied.

Coach Bert van Marwijk. “It’s a great night for Dutch football after we failed to qualify for the World Cup,” Feyenoord coach Bert van Marwijk said after the triumph.

“It was hard but we decided to play an attacking game and it paid off.”Borussia Dortmund coach Matthias Sammer was generous in defeat to Feyenoord - but blamed a string of defensive mistakes for the loss.“I’ve got to congratulate Feyenoord because they played well but I’m disappointed from my point of view because we committed too many stupid defensive errors,” Sammer said.

“We played better in the second half but when you’re down to 10 men its always difficult. I’m not going to blame the players for the defensive mistakes, it’s disappointment enough that we lost.The win sparked jubilation among the 40,000 fans at the stadium. But it was a miserable farewell for Dortmund’s veteran German international defender Jurgen Kohler, playing his final match before retiring.Kohler was sent off and gave away a penalty in one fell swoop midway through the first half, after being caught in possession by Tomasson, who sped through on goal with only keeper Jens Lehmann to beat.

A late desperate lunge from Kohler sent Tomasson crashing to the ground, leaving Portuguese referee Vitor Melo Manuel Pereira with no option but to award a penalty - and pull out a red card for Kohler.Despite German protests, van Hooijdonk stepped up to drive a powerful right-foot spot-kick low and wide of the diving Lehmann.

Sammer had no complaints with the penalty or the sending off.“The penalty was logical, and the sending-off conformed to the rules - but in the context of a final maybe a red card was a bit severe.

“It’s obviously sad for Jurgen to finish his career with a sending off.”Dortmund had made it clear they had no intention of being intimidated early in the game, defender Christian Worns announcing his presence with several crunching tackles.One of them almost cost the Germans dear. Worns was penalised for a foul on van Hooijdonk 35 yards out and from the subsequent freekick the Feyenoord deadball specialist curled a fine effort against the post.

That near miss should have served as a warning to Dortmund and keeper Lehmann - but five minutes before halftime they were punished when van Hooijdonk was presented with another freekick from similar range.
This time the former Nottingham Forest striker made no mistake, curling his shot over the Dortmund wall to put Feyenoord comfortably on the road to victory.

But Borussia Dortmund roared back into the game straight after halftime, Brazilian Amoroso scoring from the penalty spot on 47 minutes after being upended by Patrick Paauwe, who was yellow-carded for the foul.Feyenoord hit back almost immediately however.

A neat ball from Japanese international Shinji Ono sprung Dortmund’s offside trap, leaving Tomasson to race through before crashing an unstoppable shot past Lehmann.Yet again though Dortmund responded strongly and clawed back a goal in spectacular fashion on 58 minutes with an opportunist strike from Koller.

The towering centre-forward trapped a Feyenoord clearance with his chest on the edge of the area, and volleyed in an unstoppable dipping shot from 25 yards which gave Edwin Zoetbier no chance.AC Milan-bound Tomasson said he was delighted to have left the club with a win.

“I’ll leave for Italy with the feeling that it’s mission accomplished,” he said.“This win is a great achievement for me and the club. This season has given me my confidence back after a difficult spell at Newcastle in England.

“I was appreciated here. I’ll never forget the club and the supporters - they’ve been fantastic.”But it was Dortmund’s final strike and Feyenoord hung on for victory.The match had kicked off after a minute’s silence in memory of flamboyant far-right Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, who was shot dead on Monday.—AFP

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