January 2023 friendlies
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Re: January 2023 friendlies
*Played 11th January*
Castilona 1-0 Lamantia
4' - J. Fiorentino
Castilona's early goal was enough to secure a home victory over Lamantia in a close encounter between two teams with little between them in the official rankings. Jonathan Fiorentino's trademark pace struck soon after kick-off, as he punished Paul Schweiz on the back foot with a quick turn to create space with the ball before confidently striking past the goalie. Lamantia's Sven Ebersbacher was guilty of squandering the visitors' best opportunity to level the score at the end of the first 45, poorly directing a header way over the bar, but opportunities were few and far behind in the northern cold and Castilona held out.
Next up for the pair are their opening qualifiers, with both sides having been in their confederations' respective top-seeded pots, as they aim for a place in Mercury.
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- FMS Staff
- Posts: 21547
- Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:37 pm
- Location: Cherry Trees, Craitland
- Contact:
Re: January 2023 friendlies
*Played 11th January*
Victoria 3-3 Tiana
15' - F. Alegri
44' - B. Keir
45' - E. Buongiorna
67' - M. Tardelli
75' - C. Bloxham
84' - C. Kelley-Dunn
Victoria and Tiana played-out an end-to-end goalfest in which neither could seal the advantage as they shared the game's six goals. Fabio Alegri's initial long-range effort was cancelled-out right before half time by Bjarne Keir, who headed home from a corner, but an immediate defensive lapse allowed Tiana to score straight from the restart and restore their lead heading into the break thanks to Emiliano Buongiorna's back-post finish in time added on. The Tianan lead was extended in the second half, as Marco Tardelli struck a superb free-kick from the edge of the box into the goal's top corner, but young Cyrus Bloxham was on hand to bring the deficit back to one less than ten minutes later as he broke through the offside trap and held his nerve to finish one-on-one. And with the match beginning its close, the scoreboard was all levelled via another Victorian corner as lofty centre-half Charlton Kelley-Dunn beat his counterparts to the looped delivery and headed past the 'keeper.
Although drawn into separate qualifying groups, these two may once again be looking to better one another later in the year due to the new play-off format. Having been placed in the AEFA's second seeding pot, the pair have been given two tricky groups to play in, and the reality of their records having to be compared to adjudge who advances is maybe more likely than it seems given both teams' footballing history.
Re: January 2023 friendlies
*Played 11th January*
Phinbella 3-1 Tellia
16' Ri Kae-hwan
41' Izraiwan Marɂdzukiɂ
62' Sezer Özker
77' Izraiwan Marɂdzukiɂ
Phinbella made a serious statement ahead of World Cup qualify as they humbled Tellia on home soil. Whilst the opening exchange saw the two teams play fairly cautiously, a rare mistake from Michele Di Tommaso saw him pass the ball straight to Mat Phineas Flynn, who slid a through ball right into the path of Ri Kae-hwan, who held off a defender to finish low past Thibault Guillermety. Tellia looked a bit shell shocked and the hosts took the initiative, causing all sorts of problems, before Izraiwan Marɂdzukiɂ doubled their lead a few minutes before half time, heading home from a Ri cross after some lovely flowing and intricate passing in the build up.
Tellia had a rocket up their bottom for the second half, but it seemed to be one of those days were nothing would go in. Armando Uggè's header was kicked off of the line by Izzanie Murad, before Marko Zajc's dipping effort clipped the post before bouncing wide. They would eventually pull a goal back, with Sezer Özker firing a shot from outside the box that took a deflection on its way past the Phinbellan keeper, but they still looked frustrated. They were given a big chance to get back in the game with 15 minutes left, when Xhan Bogārd felled Gianluca Salmoiraghi in the box, but the Biulya äqi Jedu forward hit his penalty against the crossbar, with Isaac Mahler volleying the rebound over the crossbar. And a few moments later, the game was lost, with the resulting goal kick being allowed to bounce on the halfway line, with the Tellian defence caught on their heals, allowing Izraiwan Marɂdzukiɂ to run in unopposed into the penalty area, slotting away to ensure his side walked away with a 3-1 victory.