The Blue and Grey Rush
These past two matches are quintessential Auprussian wins. Away to Maritaine they started the scoring extremely early. Off of a great run of play Pardau found a long pass to Ven Pirennes who crosses it beautifully to a hard running Carafalxe Nithaire for the 1-0 lead in the 5th minute. Then in the 20th minute another beautiful long pass, this time by Trothaire deu Fornae-Saiy scrambled the defense enough so that when Ven Pirennes squares it back, Trothaire scores the second goal of the match with composure. Maritaine then starts to fight back a bit. In the 35th minute a miscommunication in the backline is severely punished by the Maritaine front line but Maritaine could not get a second before half time. Darrick Tephont made an impressive tackle to stop a counter-attack which got Perin De Ferrander hyped up to close out the half.
The next half the Auprussian defense, yes, the DEFENSE started to affect the game. Jean-Loc D'Irtellind had a very physical tackle that made the Maritaine players actively push him away with De Ferrander and Tephont coming in for him and pushing back, the referees separate the two sides but that was the tone of the second half. When Maritaine got on the counter a physical tackle by an Auprussian defender would deflate the attack and in a rare bit of counter-attacking prowess from Auprussia, they punish the overextension with a D'Irtellind run and cross to Huberdeau Audac, who makes it 3-1 in the 68th minute. Some more ineffective counters by Maritaine had barely inconvenienced the Auprussian defense until the 92nd minute when the game was all but decided. Maritaine got a corner and finally got a set-piece goal to get in to make it a 3-2 game at the end.
The next match against Rovenza was even crazier. At home in Parc d'Auprus the national team put on a clinic in how to attack a defense. in the 10th minute D'Irtellind makes an incisive run where the Rovenza defense has to at last try to stop his run but then he passes it to a trailing Fornae-Saiy who lifts the ball to Audac for the header to make it 1-0. 10 minutes later the incisive run comes from Ven Pirennes this time who burns a Ronvenza defender on the flank then gets around another to square it on for Ingalcer Pardau who takes a screamer of a shot and hits his mark to make it 2-0. The Auprussian commentators even remarked that the team had seemingly found their form but then were interrupted four minutes later when Pardau launches a long pass to Huberdeau Audac who heads it back down to Trothaire deu Fornae-Saiy who calmly slides it through to make it 3-0. By this time the stadium had erupted into a frenzy. The last goal Auprussia would score came late in the first half. A belligerent Perin De Ferrander makes a hard tackle and quickly gets the ball to Ingalcer Pardau, who runs like hell and lays the ball out to Ven Pirennes who in turn makes one more pass to Huberdeau Audac to finishes the chance neatly.
The next half was filled with the Auprussian defense attempting to stop the furious attacks by the Rovenza opposition. Destaire Obscaix and Roném D'Ithril-Sur Charmelle come on for D'Irtellind and Aregnac-Tignon to shore up the defense and they did so for a time. Destaire Obscaix had a couple of highlight tackles and the Auprussians looked to expand the lead but just couldn't finish their chances. Rovenza eventually got a free kick and managed to score off of it and they shored up the score by finally getting a goal in open play in the 85th minute. Albeit a dour ending for the defense, Auprussia comes away with the three points regardless.
Eleo Vicard was extremely satisfied with what he saw these past two matches. He had been stressing about how the team was going to play and how crucial this stretch was. For the next few matches they will return to the same lineup as before. Lithobert on the right and Bruta-Apollonoux starting instead of just rotating in to the lineup. These next matches are going to say a lot about this Auprussian team. Smallistan is an unranked and unknown team who has not been at its best...if there was a best. However, the match against Crpostran is where most will know if this team is for real or not. Vicard looks at the Crpostran scouting report and gets to work.
The Crpostran team runs a system which is in the Auprussian's wheelhouse. 4-3-3 attacking style and based on possession. Auprussia's tactics against such teams remain largely the same: Overwhelm them in open play and aggressively pressure them into giving the ball away. In open play directly attack hard and fast. Auprussia thrives in these types of matchups and Crpostran is the perfect team to test if their mettle against. the interesting matchups that arise from this are apparent: The frontline of Brisaxe-Gamblaife, Audac, and Lithobert against the Crpostran defense and both midfields' ability to keep the ball and attack from there. The midfields are interesting because they are...scarily similar. Two young midfielders backed up by a veteran stalwart but, one could argue Auprussia's midfield is slightly better in this regard and Pardau is more defensively oriented while Xavier Moreau is the attacker.
The Auprussian defense while letting in goals are no joke. This might be the most competent defense Auprussia has fielded in a long time and the goals conceded are more down to the system than the quality of players. Regardless, Jean-Loc D'Irtellind is a dangerous weapon against the Crpostran defense. His ability to make great attacking runs and great technical ability on the ball may prove to be an issue for that defense. A long with two very physical defenders thus far in Darrick Tephont and Perin De Ferrander plus a resurgent Propsierre Aregnac-Tignon they are the most important part of keeping this match within striking distance.
The venue for this affair is also notable. It will be played a Coeur De Sassen Alexia, the largest available venue for the qualifiers. The Crpostran team are going to walk into an very hostile Auprussian atmosphere as with the result of the past 3 matches and the very close loss to Paradystopia away the public are starting to believe this team can be more than what it was for the past couple of cycles. This may affect how Crpostran plays but that remains to be seen. What also seems to be a factor is Vicard's own confidence is starting to be built up back again. An admirable performance in the IAC and now with the qualifying cycle going the way it is...there may be hope after all.
