61’ ⚽️ 0-1 Etz Netanya goal
85’ ⚽️ 1-1 Tom Printac goal (penalty)
Top row (from left to right): Josh Fischbach, Guile Meyer, Zequi Lubocki, Gato Schwalb, Uriel Benita, Daniel Geron, Mati Yelen, Martin Lagman, Misha Marianoff, Nico Milieris, Alan Kaler, Ehud Eblagon, Tom Printac and Sam Sank.
Bottom row (from left to right): Kevin Packer, Facu Cervigni, Max Russell, Gabo Bruck, Martin Siber and Nico Grinberg.
Saturday’s game was a solid all-around team performance. Throughout the entire match, we looked organized and everyone executed their defensive and offensive responsibilities very well. Overall, it was an evenly matched game. After we scored, it felt like we had the momentum and were pushing for a win, but a decent Natanya side was able to keep us at bay to maintain the score at 1-1.
In the first half, we were the dominant team. We imposed our style on the match by keeping the ball well. We switched the point of attack often and moved the ball through our midfield. Our holding midfielders in particular found quite a bit of room to operate by receiving the ball deep to start our attacks.
Although we did not have much luck with our balls over the top, we were able to create some chances with the ball at our feet. In fact, our best chance of the half came during a turnover in which Daniel Geron found himself running at their last defender. Dani dribbled at speed and took a shot from just outside the 18-yard box which hit the far post.
Defensively, we were physical and worked well in between and across lines. In particular, we were much more compact than previous weeks and made it very difficult for them to break us down, even though they had a few very skilled players in the middle. In fact, their best chance came from some miscommunication between our defenders and goalkeeper. After a shaky clearance from our end, they hit a one time ball from far out, which missed the net.
In the second half, the game was more evenly matched. There were not many chances throughout the half to be fair. However, at approximately the midway point of the half, a long ball over the top created some confusion between our backline and our keeper. Their striker was able to capitalize on the mistake and tap in a goal to make it 1-0.
After that, the players that came in did a terrific job in giving us a push late when we felt a little bit fatigued. Towards the end of the match, as we kept pushing for a result, one of their players handled the ball with his hand.
The referee awarded us a penalty shot, which Tom Printac neatly put away by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.
For the remainder of the match, we continued to put them under pressure to get ourselves a result. Although we found some gaps and created some chances it was not meant to be for the night.
In all, it was a fantastic team performance and defensively, arguably one of our best performances of the year yet!