MYTANIJA SURVIVE LATE SCARE
BRAVE HOOPS SEE OFF LATE BAKER PARK RALLY - ALL-RUSHMORI CLASH WITH GRÆNTFJALL UP NEXT
by Nevenka Planinc
MYTANIJA 3-2 BAKER PARK
MYT: Gannot 17’; Prinelec 34’, 42’
CBP: Obodime 77’; Obolundi 80’
MYT: 1. Besak; 2. P. Odonelec, 3. Savicevic (c), 4. U. Odonelec, 5. Nestorovski (sub. Milcic 62’); 6. Ajanovic, 7. Smajic, 8. Simselevic (sub. Ocokoljic 62’); 10. Shishkin (sub. Kurtcehajic 81’); 9. Prinelec, 22. Gannot
CBP: 1. Albertson; 17. Jones, 3. Slater, 2. Obodime; 11. Ryan, 14. Wiley (c), 8. Taylor (sub. Engels 81’), 6. Vetter (sub. Shanahan 55’), 7. Logan; 13. Diaz (sub. Moorman 64’), 12. Obulundi
The phrase ‘a game of two halves’ is used quite a bit in football and it’s easy to understand why. Games change after the half-time break, when managers or coaches have an opportunity to talk to their teams and go into the finer details of why they aren’t playing well and what they need to do in order to fix it. Or they give their team a dressing down, perhaps bounce a water bottle off one of their central defender’s heads and tell them to get back out there and actually try to look like they want to win the game. It is unclear which approach Baker Park manager Liam Sullivan took with his young charges after 45 minutes in this Di Bradini Cup last sixteen tie, but whatever he said to his players it worked as they very nearly completed what would have been one of the unlikeliest comebacks after going into half-time 3-0 down after what can only be described as a 45 minute demolition job by the Mytanar under-21s. Their only problem was that they couldn’t keep it up after half-time as they had in the group stage under increased pressure from the much improved Baker Park team.
Baker Park’s 3-5-2 posed Mytanija some different questions in this game, Liam Sullivan ostensibly aiming to pack the centre of the pitch and exploit the narrowness of Mytanija’s midfield by playing five across the middle. Baker Park’s three central defenders also meant that they had a spare man to track the movement of Gannot and Prinelec, with the extra centre back also able to cover Maks Shishkin if necessary. Another cliché that has entered common parlance – not only relating to football – is that ‘the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’ and despite the intuitive, if minor, formation change away from Baker Park’s usual 3-4-1-2 that was evident as the Hoops blitzed the Baker Park defence with clever movement and quick passing through the opening period.
Patrik Odonelec and Zvonko Nestorovski were key in this, Adem Fejzic has been keen to reiterate his desire for both of them to play high up the field when Mytanija are in possession and they were certainly doing that here, often playing as high up the field as Lazar Prinelec in one of the two central striker positions. The two full-backs pinned Baker Park’s wide midfielders – Ryan and Logan – back so that they were almost forming a back five with the three central defenders. This created equal numbers in the centre of the pitch, with the trio of Mytanar central midfielders battling against Baker Park’s own, neither Ryan nor Logan could come inside to provide a spare player as they had to cover the Mytanar full-backs. This was where Damien Gannot and Maks Shishkin came in as they dropped deep to create overloads in the centre of the pitch, thereby allowing Mytanija either a 4 or 5 versus 3 and the spare man was left with time on the ball. In the first-half Baker Park didn’t deal with this well and their centre-backs would often try to follow Gannot and Shishkin into midfield positions and this left Prinelec in one on ones with the other central defender and also left spaces for incisive runs from outside-to-in by both Odonelec and Nestorovski.
All three of Mytanija’s first-half goals came from some variation of this, Gannot’s opener came from Shishkin dropping deep and being followed by Slater, Sefir Ajanovic had the ball and played it inside to Mersudin Smajic who fired it into Shishkin’s feet at pace and the diminutive number ten laid it back off for Smajic who then played a beautifully weighted pass for Patrik Odonelec to run onto at the by-line on the left side of the Baker Park penalty area. Odonelec could have fired the ball first time across the box – Lazar Prinelec ran towards the near post with Obodime in close proximity – but instead he just pulled it back towards the penalty spot where Gannot had checked back and the Atletik Thessia youngster had time to pass the ball into the bottom corner, the ball passing through Antoine Jones’ legs to add insult to injury following the centre back had losing Gannot after the forward’s clever movement in stopping his run.
It took the same amount of time for the second goal to arrive as it had for the first, but Mytanija had been enjoying a period of dominance during the first-half and it had looked a case of when rather than if they would double their lead. It came from a move where both Gannot and Shishkin dropped into deeper areas, midway into the Baker Park half, with the pair forming the point of two separate Mytanar triangles with the three central midfielders. Ajanovic again started the move, playing a nicely weighted ball into Shishkin’s feet and he again played the ball first time and away from goal back to Adver Simselevic. The big central midfielder squeezed a pass through the congested middle of the pitch to Damien Gannot who took one touch to evade Dean Slater and then played a speculative ball for Lazar Prinelec to run onto. The striker was left one against one with Obodime and the defender wasn’t tight enough to Prinelec and that was all the Olympic Thessia striker needed as he lashed the ball into the bottom left corner of the net with his right foot. It was a fine finish across goal and left goalkeeper Gillian Albertson with little chance of saving it such was its precision.
In an article with two well-worn clichés so far it might seem indulgent to add a third, but after all three is the magic number (well, now it’s going to be four clichés, but I digress) and that was as true for Mytanija as it is for clichés as they went 3-0 up. Goals can be like buses sometimes, you wait for a while for one and then two come along at once and that happened for Lazar Prinelec as he helped himself to his second of the match. Again it was clever movement by the Mytanar team combined with the full-backs keeping Baker Park’s wide midfielders honest which led to the goal. Shishkin was again at the heart of it, he received the ball from Mersudin Smajic with his back to goal and Antoine Jones close behind him but instead of controlling the ball Shishkin dummied taking a touch and let the ball run… right through Jones’ legs. Shishkin ran onto the ball and then set Prinelec off with a threaded pass, Prinelec was in a similar position to his first goal but on the left side of the Baker Park penalty area and this time he used his left foot to rifle a shot into that left corner. Albertson didn’t move – seemingly wrong-footed – it appeared as if she had been expecting a similar shot across goal from Prinelec as he had done for his first, but he hit it towards the near post and put Mytanija 3-0 up. A magic number indeed.
Half-time is when the game changed and after the break Baker Park seemed to be dealing with the Mytanar pressure much better. Their three central defenders weren’t moving out of position to follow Gannot and Shishkin as much and this meant Prinelec wasn’t being left one-on-one against a lone centre-back and it also left much less space in the central areas directly in and around the Baker Park penalty area. It did mean that Gannot and Shishkin could run at the Baker Park defenders, but they acquitted themselves pretty well when this occurred, Omodibe impressing in particular as he dispossessed the pair a few times through the second 45 minutes. The Mytanar full-backs were still stationed high up the pitch, but now Logan and Ryan were breaking from those positions much quicker and on occasion even neglecting to track back entirely. This did risk Odonelec and Nestorovski getting time to deliver crosses, but it also allowed Baker Park to break forward much more quickly when they recovered possession. Logan and Ryan were in space vacated by the Mytanar full-backs as they took up their attacking positions and it was from a counter-attack down the left-side from which Olivia Ryan won the corner that allowed Baker Park to begin their fightback in the last fifteen minutes.
By that point it had seemed a little like Mytanija had blown themselves out. Zvonko Nestorovski had had to go off due to fatigue and he had been replaced with the more defensive-minded Damir Milcic. This necessitated Patrik Odonelec shifting from left-back to right-back and the Hoops didn’t look as incisive once that change had happened, although with a 3-0 lead they shouldn’t have really needed to be. Dusko Ocokoljic had also come on for Adver Simselevic at the same time as Milcic’s introduction and Ocokoljic was uncharacteristically sloppy in possession in a way which Simselevic had not been at all in this game. Ocokoljic misplaced a few passes within a few minutes of coming on and Adem Fejzic could be seen berating the Crvena Zvezda midfielder from the sideline. Baker Park had made two substitutions of their own in the first twenty minutes of the second-half as Lucie Shanahan came on for Paul Vetter and Ben Moorman replaced Elena Diaz. Shanahan was especially impressive during the second-half, playing in a combative but fair manner which made breaking-up Mytanija’s attacks much easier for her team. It is notable that this game was played in a way which suggested neither side had paid much heed to the previous encounter between the two teams at DBC44.
It wasn’t until Baker Park got their goal, but it came from Olivia Ryan exploiting the space left by Patrik Odonelec as he tried to take-up an attacking position deep in the Baker Park half. Samuel Obodime was probably Baker Park’s best defender during this game and he made a good tackle on Lazar Prinelec to regain possession before hitting a pass for Ryan to run onto and the midfielder was away. She had Moorman and Obolundi to aim at in the middle but Mersudin Smajic had broken his neck to get back in time to prevent her crossing the ball in and his sliding tackle put the ball out for a corner. The Baker Park central defenders came up from the back and Olivia Ryan’s cross was met by that man Samuel Obodime who crashed a header home to make the score 3-1. Baker Park suddenly had their tails up and they were pressing the Mytanar players with greater intensity, aware that they still had time to complete an unlikely comeback if they worked for it.
It was a mere three minutes later when they had their second, a lovely move being finished off by Peter Obulundi with a finish reminiscent of Lazar Prinelec’s first goal. The Baker Park captain Isabelle Wiley was the key component, driving from midfield with the ball at the Mytanar defence, towering centre-half Usten Odonelec went to close her down and she left him sprawling in her wake. She then played a nice pass for Obulundi to run onto and the Newmarket Saxons’ striker did the rest, powering the ball into the bottom corner beyond Semir Besak. Besak was furious with his defenders, but it was a fine piece of play by Wiley and a good finish from Obulundi.
Adem Fejzic had decided he had seen enough and substituted Zijad Kurtcehajic on for Maks Shishkin, a defensive midfielder for an attacking midfielder and an obvious sign of respect for the fight Baker Park had shown in getting back into the match. Liam Sullivan made a change of his own, bringing striker Shelby Engels on for central midfielder Kurt Taylor to try and provide his team with another attacking option. Fejzic will have been pleased with Kurtcehajic’s impact, the young midfielder won the ball back four times in his 12 minutes on the field as well as winning two aerial duels. Fejzic knows Kurtcehajic well from his time managing Atletik and will have known his qualities in the defensive side of the game.
The Hoops showed enough to see the game out and Fejzic will have been pleased with the spirit of the team in doing that, it would have been very easy to crumble once Baker Park got their second goal but the team pulled together and Fejzic’s tactical change with the introduction of Kurtcehajic paid off too. He will have been less pleased with his team allowing Baker Park to get back into the game in the manner they did, but when the opposition change things and play in a much improved fashion you can only say chapeau and congratulate them sometimes. Damien Gannot was once again key and it will be interesting to see if our next opponents, our semi-distant Rushmori neighbours Græntfjall, take a leaf out of Baker Park’s book in combatting both his and Maks Shishkin’s off-the-ball movement. Gannot took his tally to 8 goals in 4 games so far in this tournament; with Lazar Prinelec’s brace meaning he has 4 goals from 4; and Mytanija’s team record is still an extremely impressive 19 goals for with only 5 conceded through the four games played to this point.
How Græntfjall combat Mytanija’s offensive play will be one of the key factors in determining the game’s result, but how Mytanija combat Græntfjall’s somewhat unorthodox tactics and positional play will be the other. Their manager, Sopo Chazuca, is somewhat of a maverick – perhaps unsurprising for a native of Tequilo – and Fejzic will have to decide whether to tell his team to go out and play their own game or to try and combat the Græntfjaller team’s style. On the basis of what we’ve seen so far it may be wiser to try and stick to what his team know, trying to match Græntfjall’s tactics could prove dangerous and he may see things which the young Hoops can exploit from the opposition’s unorthodox formations which can often leave them a little light at the back. Græntfjall were good value for their 4-2 win over Saint-Domingue, the latter were reduced to ten men in the final ten minutes after a poor challenge by Patrice Parmentier with the game at 3-2. Græntfjall made good their advantage by adding a fourth in injury time.
It’s another game at the Hatire Memorial stadium in Capri, a place which is turning into a little bit of a home away from home for Mytanija given the amount of times we have played there. The Mytanar fans will be looking forward to a game against a Rushmori rival and the atmosphere is sure to be raucous come the start of the match. All-Rushmori ties always mean that little bit more and it will be a game which allows both sets of young players to experience the pressure of that sort of fixture. Mytanija were extremely professional in beating Valladares – another Rushmori team – in the group stage and Adem Fejzic will be hoping for more of the same here. It will be an intriguing physical battle as well as a tactical one with Græntfjall’s teams and wider population known well within the region for their athleticism, fitness and their height. The likes of Usten Odonelec, Grigorij Savicevic, Adver Simselevic et al will have their work cut out with that side of the game.
There’s always time for one more Mytanar cliché and Fejzic and his team will hope that their technical ability can make the opposition appear like a Græntfjaller kraken out of water, but it’s sure to be a tough match. Hopefully they can ensure that Enesa Handanovic is the happiest person in Græntfjall come the end of the game.
Expected line-up vs. Græntfjall: 1. Besak; 2. P. Odonelec, 3. Savicevic (c), 4. U. Odonelec, 5. Nestorovski; 6. Ajanovic, 7. Smajic, 8. Simselevic; 10. Shishkin; 9. Prinelec, 22. Gannot