International Edition - Sport
Corsairs Stay The Course
Blanco Borrayo reports from Yattaville;
The game of football is not, at its heart, a complicated business. But throw in the twin evils of expectation and pressure and all kinds of complications ensue. So believes Guillermo Lucena, a former international defender for Sargossa who is now part of Rafael Barrios’ national team coaching staff. ‘We entered a number of campaigns as first or second seeds’, he remembers. ‘And with that label came the pressure to perform and the pressure to also succeed. We were a target and consequently our opponents tended to raise their games. Then you had the criticism from the pundits, from the fans on social media, the works. It made for a pretty unhappy dressing room at times.’
Contrast that with the atmosphere around this particular version of the national team. The nation came into this competition having missed the last campaign entirely and were hardly expected to uproot any trees. Despite having dropped out of the world’s top hundred and languishing right at the bottom of pot 5 in the draw Barrios and his charges have confounded the critics with a string of impressive performances. With just one defeat as the qualification campaign reached its halfway point the Corsairs were still right in the mix in a group that could still go in any one of five different directions. With points taken off higher ranked Mercedini, Starblaydia and Darmen the side were experiencing a happy and positive atmosphere for a change. Consequently confidence was high as second seeds Mercedini arrived in town.
The visitors knew they were in for a game, having already dropped two points to Sargossa in Zoloroni, but even they may have been surprised at the battle they faced in Maturín. Evidently that draw in the opening round of matches was no fluke. The Corsairs had been the better side in the first half but had nothing to show for it, until a moment of magic. Miguel Marí picked the ball up out wide on the left, skipped past a couple of challenges and curled a beautiful right footed drive beyond the reach of Hosset and into the net. Marí is a popular figure at the Ciudad Deportiva and the crowd roared in appreciation at his efforts. At half time Sargossa held a deserved lead.
But in a group that contains six World Cups, six AOCAFs and four Copa Rushmoris Mercedini are not second seeds by accident and they started the second half with gusto. Whatever David Bjanasson had said to his players at the interval clearly had the desired effect as Sergio Vega was called into action three times in quick succession as the half began. The travelling fans may have been small in number but their volume grew as they clearly sensed a goal. And they weren’t disappointed as Sam Billic, who had endured a frustrating time in the first match between the nations, found his killer instinct as he steered Chillotov’s pass past Vega. From there it was end to end stuff as both sides searched for a second. And a second was forthcoming, courtesy of the head of Rodrigo Marcellán. The striker, who plays his club football in this stadium, found a real spring to rise above the defence and plant Montero’s cross wide of Hosset’s despairing dive. The visitors threw everything forward for the final fifteen minutes but the Corsairs held firm to secure a potentially massive three points.
Having picked up a creditable result against Mercedini earlier in the campaign the Corsairs very nearly threw it away against unheralded Makongo in Dunas. So when taking to the pitch at the Karafa Sey National Stadium in Yattaville the Sargossan players knew exactly what to expect. That knowledge proved invaluable as two first half goals from Marí, either side of an Andrés Fernández header from a corner, put Sargossa in full control of this Group 12 fixture. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Makongo it’s that they do not let up for a second and two goals from substitute Daba Sene in the space of seven second half minutes brought the home side right back into it. In previous games we’ve seen Barrios attempt to shut up shop but here he threw on a second forward in an effort to kill the match off. And it proved to be a tactical masterstroke as substitute Iván Mayoral outmuscled Vinachê Mbiwa to make it four. There proved to be no way back for the hosts as the Corsairs recorded their sixth win of the campaign.
After the eleventh round of matches the Group 12 table like much like this.
Group 12 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Starblaydia 11 8 2 1 25 9 +16 26
2 Darmen 10 6 3 1 22 10 +12 21
3 Sargossa 10 6 3 1 20 13 +7 21
4 Nephara 10 5 4 1 19 7 +12 19
5 Mercedini 11 4 4 3 28 20 +8 16
6 Yuezhou 11 3 1 7 11 24 −13 10
7 St. Saratoga 11 3 0 8 14 30 −16 9
8 Makongo 11 2 1 8 20 31 −11 7
9 Tveidalen 11 2 0 9 13 28 −15 6
Two games into the second half of qualifying and the top five in this group are starting to break apart. The recent Starblaydi win over Mercedini put the Purple Peril five points clear at the top of the group, albeit with the three teams behind them having played a game less. Sargossa’s win in Makongo sends the Corsairs level with Rushmori rivals Darmen in second while top seeds Nephara are still trying to recover from their slow start to the campaign and are two points further back. Mercedini are looking increasingly adrift in fifth but, with plenty of points still to play for, they still cannot be entirely ruled out. Next up for Sargossa it’s a trip to the capital for the visit of group leaders Starblaydia. In the fixture in Jhanna the Blaydis suffered their only defeat of the campaign, will revenge by on the cards?
