CITY finds a way again last night, ignoring the off-field turmoil and grabbing a 2-1 win over West leading Houston. Let's take a look at the opening goal from Simon Becher.
Simon Becher - Goal (23')
The play starts with an excellent breakout from Timo to Wallem to Matan that gets the ball from just outside CITY's penalty area to just over the center line in 3 seconds, an excellent direct push up the field. Matan takes Wallem's perfectly weighted ball in stride and moves up the left wing.
As he lays the ball off to Totland on his left, 2 things occur that really set this play up - Ostrak makes a run to the left, dragging defenders with him, and Matan fills that space vacated by Ostrak. This forces Artur (#6) to drift towards Matan, leaving space in behind for Wallem to run into.
Wallem receives Totland's pass in front of the box, flips it to Matan, whose touch is poor and the ball squirts to his left, where a waiting Becher makes a very, very difficult turn and shot past Houston's GK Bond.This was a great breakout from their own end, excellent movement around and inside the box, a really just a fantastic turn and shot by Simon to give CITY the 1-0 lead.
Ibrahim Aliyu - Goal (75')
Houston, who had an earlier goal brought back by a very close offside call, got what felt like an inevitable equalizer in the 75th minute, a result of a great individual effort from Lawrence Ennali, who got around Totland with a nice shoulder lean. MacNaughton was caught somewhat in between here, as he had to either stay home to cover up Mateusz Bogusz or move towards Ennali to deny the pass into the center of the area.
As MacNaughton shifted centrally, Ennali fed the ball back to Bogusz, who had occupied the space behind MacNaughton and to the side of Polvara, who was slow in rotating to cover. His shot is initially saved, but the rebound was banged home by Ibrahim Aliyu, who had cut in front of a ball-watching Conrad Wallem.
A lapse in focus and a bit of tired legs from CITY, along with a nice turn by Ennali, led to Houston (who had carried play most of the second half) getting what they probably assumed would be enough for a point on the road.
Dante Polvara - Goal (85')
The winner last night was a result of multiple mistakes from Houston's Hector Herrera. His terrible attempt to backheel an Ibrahim Aliyu pass turned the ball over to a retreating Becher, who slid the ball to Edelman. The CITY midfielder one-touched it to Ault, who turned and fed the ball into space for Totland.
As Totland worked against Houston's Lawrence Ennali (#11), Agustín Resch (#34) points for a teammate to move into the space he's vacating as he moves to provide backup to Ennali. Unfortunately for Houston, not only does Artur (#6) move to defend that area (as he should) but Herrera compounds his earlier mistake by also sliding over to occupy that space, completely abandoning the center of the box.
This left Dante Polvara completely alone, and as Totland's entry pass to Becher is deflected by a lunging Resch right to Polvara, he has all the time in the world to get his body around the ball and hammer the game winner past Jonathan Bond.
Really nicely done from Polvara on a play that Hector Herrera will definitely want back. A lazy attempt at an unnecessarily fancy play combined with terrible defensive decision-making and lack of field awareness gifted CITY a golden chance, which they converted for the win.
