MFO SPORT
Acronius 1-1 Mattijana-Pascale (28)-Hoffman (77)
Sky-High Coliseum, Cloudsdale
Attendance: 45,674
Marmots remain in contention, but must rely on other results to escape precarious position.
Substitute Mattias Hoffman rescued a point for Mattijana to effectively prevent their elimination from the 73rd Cup of Harmony in the Equestrian States, but Dusan Vukoja's side were unable to push on and gain a vital 3 points to get their campaign back on track.
The team must now beat the Squornshelan Remnant States and hope Mytanija avoid defeat against Acronius if they are to qualify for the round of 16, but have a tight group to thank as they look to come from bottom to take second place and progress.
The location of the Sky-High Coliseum high above the Equestrian States was one of the more memorable stadia that Mattijana have blessed the hallowed turf of, but the start to the match didn't live up to the location with both teams feeling each other out. That largely resulted in a lack of goalmouth action, but it was Acronius who went closest in the opening 20 minutes when captain Marin Trésor forced Handanovic into a smart save with a fierce drive from the edge of the 18 yard area.
That looked like it would be one of a rare few chances in the first half, but Acronius made a breakthrough out of the blue 9 minutes later. A clever through ball from Shin Kra sent striker David Pascale through on goal. Despite Handanovic's best efforts to come out and smother, a player of Pascale's quality was unlikely to waste such a golden opportunity and he duly slotted home into the bottom corner of the Mattijanan net.
Going behind seemed to wake the Mattijanans up from their lethargy and they nearly found an immediate equaliser from a corner when Rikard Illicic got up higher than his marker, only for the big centre-back to plant a powerful header onto the crossbar. Acronius tightened up after that scare and held out until the half-time interval without any further drama, much to the frustration of Dusan Vukoja and his team.
After the break, it was Mattijana who continued to have the majority of posession, but once again their huffing and puffing was failing to blow down the Acronius defence. They finally created a good chance to get level when Sophia Velezia, kept unusually quiet for most of the match, wriggled past right-back Dimitri Péguy and sent in a skidding cross towards the Acronius six-yard line. Mathilde Lekarisa was able to get a toe to it, the ball deflecting off Pierre Paulois and narrowly past the left-hand post with Marc De Brassai totally wrong-footed.
Moments later, Marko Hojbjerg fired narrowly over from distance, but it increasingly looked like it wasn't going to be Mattijana's day. With an unconfirmed, but highly likely exit from the tournament imminent, Vukoja chose to gamble on his formation with Andreas Weiss joining the fray up top in place of Jago Adrianov and Katarina Jakupovic making way for Mattias Hoffman.
Sofiane Bisrali replaced Velezia in a like-for-like swap, but it was the increased weight in the centre of the park that would ultimately make a difference on the scoresheet.
With 13 minutes of normal time to go, Hojbjerg fed the ball to Hoffman on the edge of the penalty area. The Burges midfielder played a neat one-two with Lekarisa before blasting emphatically into the roof of the net from the right edge of the 6 yard box.
The goal kept Mattijana's hopes of qualifying for the round of 16 alive, but they were nearly improved further when a floated cross from Jessika Struna gave Weiss a free header at the back post. The veteren striker got up well and made good contact, but pushed the ball too close to Acronius goalkeeper De Brassai who got down low to push the ball to safety.
Both sides in the end were happy to settle for the draw, but it will be Acronius who now have the greater chance of qualification with their two draws. A win against Mytanija would be enough to see them through, most likely as group winners, and would also eliminate Mattijana from the competition.
If Mattijana were to scrape through in second place, their task may not in fact be as hard as expected. Top seeds and 24th-ranked side Abanhfleft currently trail 68th-ranked Omerica, albeit only on goals scored, leading into the final matchday. The match between the two ended in a 1-1 draw on matchday 1, so Omerica must only better the result of their rivals to guarantee their progress in top spot. Whilst the fleftics current position indicates they may not be firing on all cylinders, Dusan Vukoja would most likely be happier facing an Omerica side ranked 10 places below his own than one of the tournament favourites.
All will be decided tomorrow evening, 4:00 PM Mattijana time on MFO 1 and MFO Radio 5 Sport.