ITLondinium-zone.com MD 4 recap

[OTK]

Ladies, gentlemen and everyone inbetween. It is time for another Inter London match. The stadium is called The Den, today's opponent flew in from Cairo, Egypt and carries the name; Cairo City. Both these teams were expected to fight for the lowest positions in the league. Inter London is so far blowing all expectations out of the water by scoring 7 points out of the first three matches. Where Cairo hovers at 3 points completing a surprise win over Krung Thep FC.



As recent as two months ago, Cairo beat London in a pre-season friendly match 4-1. Both Carlos Narvaez Jr and Connor Reed found the net twice, where Ozzy Trent Kovács scored for London. Last season London scored their only point of the season in a spectacular 5-5 draw.

O'Neill and Cappellari are back in the starting squad, replacing Madueke and Cain. A new face this season in the London team is Will Chamblee, taking Benny Blanco's spot in the central defence.

London springs into action putting the pressure on but it's Cairo with the first big chance, a free kick just outside of the box from Burns but he just misses the goal.

Alves picks up the ball in midfield, passes to Wad, turns and passes to O'Neill to pull him past defense. Tough angle to shoot, but tries it anyways. Crying manages to get a hand on the ball but it ends up reflecting straight towards Kovács who has an easy tap-in for open goal to score his 5th of the season. Dream start for London here against Cairo.

Straight off the kickoff, Cairo put together a dangerous attack, Herrera crossed to Reed in the middle, but completely missed the target. Not a minute later O'Neill takes a pass from 20 meters and hits the post. A very entertaining opening of this match so far! It is London that gets more and more control over the match, Cairo keeper Crying is needed to avoid worse for his team.

Nearing the half our mark, Cairo gets a corner. Herrera crosses and finds Green who cracks his header right on the post, the rebound is again for Green but this time safely in Gun Jr's hands.



The remainder of the first half flows left to right, both teams getting plenty of chances and it seems we're heading for a 0-1 half time score. However, Ryan O'Neill thought differently. Alves dribbles into the box on the left side, passes back to O'Neill and pulls the trigger from the edge of the penalty area. Crying gets his hands on the ball but not enough to avoid a London goal right before half time. That's Ryan's second goal of the season.



Half time subs are the usual candidates, Cain and Madueke replace Cappellari and O''Neill.
London comes out of the dressing room firing on all cylinders, taking charge of the most dangerous moment at the start of the second half. It is Cairo however that manages to do something to the scoreboard. Downing with a perfect cross pass to Burns, Burns who finds Bobby in the middle and with a crafty shot he puts Cairo on the board with his second of the season. London looked in control, but Cairo is smelling blood.



There's not much separating these two teams and the scoreline proves that. It's Cairo with the possession advantage, but London creating the higher quality chances. Cairo gets incredibly close to the equaliser as Herrera fires the rebound from Downing's shot at goal. Stun Gun Jr with a brilliant save. Momentum is now completely on Cairo's side as a minute later Villotte cuts inside from the left side and forces Gun Jr to make another save. The corner that follows gets headed over the goal giving London some air.

And air is what London took. Chamblee clears Herrera's cross, Cain collects and passes to Kovács, Kovács sends Cain deep who dribbles onto the Cairo half. Passes behind Volkan who has to hold in and drags Slothinson with him. Volkan surprises the defenders with a burst of speed and with a belter of a shot he defeats Crying for the 1-3. Great counter attack by London with an equally impressive finish.

Both teams keep pushing for goals, the biggest chance is from Volkan who strikes the post with 15 minutes to play. 5 minutes later Kovács strikes the crossbar with a header from an impossible angle by a cross from Alves. A couple minutes later it's Volkan who hits the post again. London is keen to close out the match for good. It's London that is really upping the pressure with several 100% chances.

In the 86th minute it's Volkan who ends up making the 1-4 off of an unforced error by Slothinson. Volkan punishes the mistake and puts the nail in the coffin with his 4th of the season. Surely this should be enough for the three points.

Madueke has the 1-5 within reach but Green throws himself in front of the ball and Crying saves. The ref blows the final whistle. Yet again a very entertaining match!

It's no surprise that Volkan Kiziltas is chosen as player of the match. With two goals and a handful of great chances he was a true plague for Cairo today.

The home team couldn't decide their potm between Crying, Green and Bobby.



If we look at the standings, we see that Paris is still on max points, followed by London on 10. AF Masques Sacrés completes the top 3 on goal difference ahead of Rova with 9 points each. At the bottom of the table we have Seoul on 1 point and Athenai still looking for their first point.

London plays their next match in Cape Town against the local FC Kaapstad. This is on paper the biggest test of the season so far. See you then.

[lemonoppy]

Did not expect this London, great recap 4/5