Match Report:

SEOUL UNITED FC 1 - 1 Les HAN RIVER HARRIERS

Sunday, October 24, 2004

When Les Harriers tied Seoul United 2-2 on their first meeting, a lot of folks put it down to the small pitch at Apkujeong which, it was said, inhibited United’s speedy forwards. On a regular pitch, things would be different. So it was that this time around, Les Harriers meeting took place on the large dirt pitch at Hanyang University (a sweet looking campus by the way); and the result you ask?... 1-1, another tie. (cue: smug “ha-HA!?

 United play an attractive and technical game of football. Given room to play, they can dismantle you with their one-touch passes. With this in mind, Evan and Phillippe emphasized a strategy of tight marking designed to frustrate the opposition and perchance get a sneaky one on a counter-attack. Because both Christophe and Evan are injured Kevin, took the mantle of captain and Didi’s shrink.

 United opened the scoring. Cisse struck the ball from a good ten yards out from the 18 yard line. It smacked keeper Michael’s hands and Adams lurched forward to kick in the rebound.

 The Harriers?equalizer was scored off a penalty. Guillaume stripped the ball off a United defender near their corner flag. He passed it off to Jean Blaise who ventured a shot. The ball hit a defender and fell back into the middle of the box. At this point either the ball hit Obi’s arm or he batted it down intentionally. In any case, Will spotted the infraction and awarded the penalty.

 From the side-lines Evan called for Guillaume to take the shot but Jean Blaise stepped up with characteristic bravado and converted, opting for a risky low shot down the middle.

 Although both goals were scored in the first half, there were probably more opportunities in the second. Gregoire brought the ball up from the middle and combined with Nicolas for a give-and-go to by-pass a defenseman. When Greg chipped the ball back to Nicolas once again, the lanky midfielder headed it on target. The ball was just about to slide in when Kakkar arrived in the nick of the line for a goal-line clearance.

Meanwhile, Nicolas was prone, having been injured while heading the ball.

His team mates assumed the ball would be cleared out of touch and hesitated just as it was passed up-field to Adams, catching the Harriers? defense flat-footed in the process. Adams was tearing towards goal with defender Randal pursuing him from behind when he kicked the ball with his left foot ?evidently not his best one ?and missed the target.

Shortly after the whistle for the second half, Adams, following yet another footrace down the right with Randal, subbed off, something the Harriers found curious since he had been so dangerous against us (not that anyone was complaining).

Michael, Lawrence, and Didi all had exceptional games but it is once again Gregoire who take away the honors for the Man of the Match. He had one shot careen off the crossbar and he was always threatening with deep solo runs directly at United’s defense. In the process, he took some hard knocks from United’s burley defensemen, especially Obi.

On one play, Greg slipped by his marker?and was on his way to a one-on-one with the keeper when Obi gave Greg’s shorts a little tug, just enough to slow him up so the rest of his defenders could catch up to the play. Obi’s cheekiness got him a yellow card but probably saved his team from a goal.

The second half was a little sloppy for the Harriers, especially in the back. Several of United’s well weighted through-balls and overlapping runs caught the backline by surprise. Not a good thing, especially when players with the pace of Kakkar are against you. The tenor of the game wasn’t helped by Randal’s dry-heaving in the corner of the pitch, the results of a late night with Darren and London Dave in Shinchon <Angel?(or is it Angela?)?that number you gave me doesn’t seem to be correct. If you’re reading this, my e-mail once again is [email protected]).

Man of the Match: Gregoire Frecon

Goal: Jean Blaise (penalty: handball)

Play of the Game: Gregoire and Nicolas’s passing play up the field, finishing with Nicolas’s near-goal off a header, thwarted by Kakkar’s last second goal-line clearance.

Yellow card: Guillaume Cario (continuing to play after the whistle had been blown.)