S21 Cup Recap: Qualifiers (First Leg)

[Daleks]

Qualifiers (Second Leg) >>

Welcome to the return of my matchday recaps! I have done two academy recaps during my academy season, which people seemed to enjoy reading. With the uncapped bounty cap, I will be looking to make a more consistent matchday recap series that will look at the developments happening in the cup throughout the season.

Worth noting that I am ordering these matches based on when they appear on the stream. The YouTube thumbnail graphic for this matchday has the matches in a different order.

Without further ado, let us move on to the first match:

Seoul MFC 2-4 Rapid Magyar SC

14’ – T. Justinussen (T. Jimotheous)
16’ – K. Heung-Min (A. De Giron)
23’ – K. Heung-Min (D. Barr)
34’ – A. Bunson (T. Justinussen)
57’ – D. Pointment (T. Justinussen)
70’ – P. Lind (A. Bunson)

Key takeaways:
Rapid Magyar SC came into this match as underdogs. They have reinforced their team after an unimpressive first season, but the new players have not got fully familiar with the system yet. Magyar, aside from a friendly draw against Seoul themselves, have not managed to produce results yet. Meanwhile, Seoul came into this match hot after a 5-0 dismantling of Athenai.

Magyar were looking to set the tempo early with an early goal. However, Seoul quickly struck back and took the lead afterwards. This was looking like a repeat nightmare for Magyar again. However, the team this season has found a newly renewed vigour. The second half saw a completely different Magyar. After scoring their third goal with the help of some great positioning by Pointment, they kept the momentum for the rest of the match.

This is a great position to be in for the second leg. Seoul will have to work overtime to defeat a Magyar side that has proven themselves more fierce than last season.

Magyar managed to keep the momentum for most of the second half.

Player of the match: Teitur Justinussen
Justinussen was the difference maker today, being involved in three of the four goals! Justinussen continues being one of the cornerstones for Magyar, and the team will be hoping to see the Faroese continue his form.

A match to forget for: James Asprey
5 shots faced, 4 conceded, 1 parried. Almost all the shots on goal went in, which results in a very rough performance for the usually very solid keeper.

Player of note: Andres De Giron
Andres De Giron was a workhorse that really deserved to get a win today. 6 key passes, 4 clear cut chances, 9 successful dribbles and a fantastic defensive performance. It is genuinely hard to believe that he was part of the losing team.
 

Inter London 2-4 Montréal United

2’ – P. Dobrić (C. Power) 
4’ – M. Sinclair (D. Skovsgaard) 
26’ – P. Dobrić (Z. Clarke) 
37’ – C. Power (P. Dobrić) 
66’ – B. Stoush (A. Cain) 
85’ – E. Wayns (B. Sanji)
 
Key takeaways:
Despite being close in the league table last season, the gap between Montréal and Inter London was still significant. Both teams managed to obtain fantastic picks from the draft (with Sanji for London and Maeddisen for Montreal being two standout picks), but Montreal kept most of their more experienced personnel.
The first half of the match was horrendous for Inter London. They had 0 shots.

Terrible first half for Inter London.

Naturally, one would think the match is over at this point. However, Montreal got hit with a sense of complacency which, combined with what appeared to be a great locker room talk in the London side, has led the English into building up for a comeback.
In what is a reverse of the first half, London was now dominating the action. They took the momentum of the second half early and kept it for the rest of the match. They managed to score two goals, courtesy of new draft picks Stoush and Wayns, while giving Montreal no room for further attempts.

Inter London fought valiantly in the second half, surprising a complacent Montreal side. 

Unfortunately, a 4-goal deficit is too much of an ask for everyone. There is some pride to be found with the second half performance, but questions will be asked as to why they were not showing such a performance in the first half.

Inter London will hope to approach the second leg with a performance closer to what was seen in the second half of this match.

Player of the match: Predrag Dobrić
It is a hard pick between Cade Power and Predrag Dobrić, but I am going with Dobrić due to his extra goal contribution and domination in the air. However, I do want to shoutout Power’s contributions as well. 2 goal contributions and plenty of key passes deserve a mention.

As for Dobrić, his early goal set the momentum for the rest of the first half and his presence in the air caused a lot of trouble to the opposing defenders. There is not much else to be said other than the fact that the striker did his job exactly how he must.

A match to forget for: Academic Victim
Dobrić aerial skills were too strong for Academic Victim today, and the lack of successful tackles also make this a match to forget for the man that mathematics forgot. His reliable passing is a bright point though, and is something that can perhaps be more utilized on in the future.

Player of note: Cade Power
I have already sung my praises for Power in an earlier section, but Montreal would have not gained the early momentum without the help of Power. A versatile and consistent force, Power proves that he is one of the highest potential up-and-coming players around.
 

F.C. Kaapstad 3-3 Krung Thep FC

  8’ – B. Skovsgaard (D. Oliver)
19’ – K. Lightning (A. Obranca)
47’ – D. Patterson (M. al-Kazmi)
69’ – A. Calderon 
73’ – T. Moff (H. Dewitt) 
90’ – D. Tathille (D. Oliver)

Key takeaways:
A close match between two teams that came into this encounter with two wildly different starts to the season. On one side, you have championship contender Kaapstadt, who has had a very successful start of the season, filled with wins.

On the other side, Krung Thep. A side that had a very impressive showing last season, but is now struggling with a very slow start to the season, with only losses to their name.

The match was an interesting clash of styles. Krung Thep has a very physically strong team, capable of dominating in the air. Kaapstadt’s team as a whole is more technically focused, and their defence is incredibly talented in the art of tackling.

The second leg will be free for the taking.

Player of the match: Draz Tathille
It is certainly confusing how a left back gets more shots on goal than either of your strikers, but Tathille’s positioning in this match was exceptional. A great defensive performance, including a great aerial performance and an equalizer goal to top it off, makes this player’s performance a joy to have witnessed.

A match to forget for: Sandro Silva
While solid defensively, their lack of offensive output and a dangerously highly amount of misplaced passes has caused instability on Krung Thep’s right side, which did not make things easier.

Player of note: Dom Patterson
Named ‘Big Dom’ for a reason: he had 14 aerial attempts, 85% of which he succeeded. With a good shooting record as well, Patterson remains a danger which teams always have to watch out for. His lack of passing skills does require working around his skillset.
 

Athenai F.C. 4-2 Cairo City

11’ – G. Santori (F. Steele)
46’ – D. Herrera (X. Kenderlin)
51’ – K. Kunicki (F. Steele)
57’ – F. Steele (K. Kunicki)
76’ – X. Kenderlin (T. ULTIMUS)
85’ – D. Lorenzo (A. Supersub)

Key takeaways:
A match that will perhaps be most remembered for the enormous number of injuries the Athenai team sustained at the end of the match.

This match was an even affair, with both teams trading an roughly equal amount of shots against each other. While Athenai seemed to be the mildly better side, especially in the middle stages of the game, Cairo did well to scare the Athenai said, until eventually succumbing to 85’ minute closer by Don Lorenzo.

As mentioned earlier, the match will be more remembered for the vast number of injuries sustained in the match. Giacomo Santori was injured in the 81’ minute, followed 9 minutes later by an injured Frosty Steele, who had a perfect performance today. Kuba Kunicki also sustained a minor injury, but was able to play through it.

Cairo needs to have a flawless performance in the second leg if they want to advance. They will be looking for ways to reduce the threat of a very dangerous Steele.

Player of the match: Frosty Steele
A perfect 10.0 performance. 3 goal contributions, 4 key passes, 4 CCC and a fantastic showcase of dribbling skills. He is the main reason for Athenai’s big victory. It’s hard to have a better game than that.

A match to forget for: Amore Delo
Very rough match for the Italian this time. Playing in the role of CM on attack duty, there was very little offensive output to show for it. His 4 dribbles being the only highlight of his match this day.

Player of note: Askito Satoshi
The Japanese goalkeeper did a fantastic job in ensuring that Cairo could not pick up a few extra goals this day. He managed to keep multiple good XG shots out, though he did get unlucky with a fantastic 0.04 XG shot by Kenderlin going in.

The shot map against Athenai.

And that was everything from the first round of cup matches! Hopefully I can keep some consistency with these recaps and keep the quality the same.
Join me next time as I recap the conclusion to these matchups after the second leg of these qualifiers are played out.
Until then, have a great day!

[Hero19]

Just take the bounty money damn it!

I mean seriously! Look at the exceptional effort you've put into this! Where do I find criticism? Where?! 

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