Intro:
This Saturday SIA Alzira’s amateur squad faced off against Picassent F.C. away from home for the 6th match day of the Second FFCV. For this week SIA Alzira counted on 4 of SIA Academy’s international athletes taking part in the Next Gen Soccer Pro program. 2 of those athletes, Giacomo Brunati and Alex Sonne, being part of SIA Alzira starting line-up while the others were brought in as strategic substitutions to refresh the team later in the game. This match showed improvement in SIA Alzira’s defensive structure and ability to generate chances in front of the goal.
Match Overview:
SIA Alzira started the match with good control of the field, the players were moving well and transitioning smoothly from defense to attack. When SIA Alzira’s keeper had the ball, all players provided good passing options and supported one another in their runs into space. Maintaining possession early on also allowed SIA Alzira to create the game’s first few chances in front of goal, although the team were struggling with getting that final shot in. SIA Alzira held a clear advantage over Picassent F.C. for the first 25 minutes of play, but the rival home team slowly began coming back and creating attacking opportunities through the wings. In order to adjust to their rivals’ new strategies SIA Alzira restructured their defense pushing their backline further back. The strategy worked out well at first as SIA Alzira managed to keep their rival’s attacks to just corners for most of the rest of the half. Already in added time, the local team got a cross in from the edge of the box and SIA Alzira’s center backs were unable to clear it, giving away the first goal at the match.
The second half allowed SIA Alzira a chance to fix up some mistakes that had been previously shown. The team took to the field in much better form, they were applying higher pressure on their opponents and using the full width of the pitch to bring the ball up when attacking. SIA Alzira also made use of tactical changes early in the second half in the hopes of bringing in fresh players to maintain the quick tempo of the match. Alex Sonne was subbed out for fellow Next Gen Soccer Pro athlete Daniel Farkas, who played a key role in creating attacking opportunities down the line and pressuring the opposition’s back line.
The attack focused substitutions seemed to be the solution to SIA Alzira’s difficulty scoring until an error in the backline left the rivals attacking player open and they got a second goal.
In the final minutes of the game SIA Alzira put everything they had into creating scoring chances, managing to put constant pressure on the opposition’s keeper. Through a series of crosses, free kicks, and shots SIA Alzira were getting dangerously close to scoring, even hitting the post on a few occasions. On the last play of the game SIA Alzira continued to press but a quick counter left SIA Alzira’s keeper on a 1 on 1 with the rivals’ attacker. A foul was committed, and the match was wrapped up with the penalty in which they capitalized on.
