Written By: Hylton, Kamal
In a tale of two halves, between bottom of the table ANB Futbol and Kingston Clippers, it was the club from King City that came out on top; ANB got revenge over Kingston after a narrow loss in Friday night's League1 Cup fixture in Eastern Ontario, with a 3-2 victory Sunday evening in Vaughan.
A Cup game that, according to Coach Bassam Naim, was a point of emphasis.
“I think they [my players] were motivated to play again,” Said Naim. “We were missing some key players, and some got injured in the game today, but the boys were ready to compete for a win.”
Both teams came into the game desperate for points, particularly ANB – with this win, the club secured its first points of the League1 season.
The first half was all the hosts, playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation with an eye toward overrunning a Kingston midfield that came out in a standard 4-4-2. Having an extra man in the midfield was a tactic by Naim to commit numbers, using overlapping and third man runs to exploit a speed advantage down the wings through brothers Jahsua and Brandon Mills.
Forward Niklas Bauer was the first player on the score sheet, beating a Kingston offside trap and putting the ball past a helpless Thomas Daechsel in the eleventh minute. The goal only seemed to spur the young side on, as they continued to link passes in the Kingston end of the field, forcing the Clippers' defenders to work.
ANB added to its lead in eye-popping fashion, with a powerful free kick by midfielder Daniel Iannacito in the twenty-fifth minute completely fooling Daechsel.
Anthony Smith adding a third goal in the forty-fourth minute, which seemed to put ANB firmly in the driver's seat.
Kingston, outside of a few testing shots (most notably from Tommy Hong), were second best in virtually every aspect of the match.
Then came the second half.
In need of a spark, the Clippers got just what they needed two minutes into the half. Jason Massie found space on the left wing, and fired across keeper Amir Jomehri in the forty-seventh minute.
From that point forward, Jomehri’s night went downhill.
His mishandling of the ball led to a Kingston indirect free kick, a set piece that was promptly slotted home by Antonios Assaad in the fifty-ninth minute to cut the lead to 3-2. With the pressure mounting, the keeper sent his team down to ten-men fourteen minutes later. Jomehri dropped a Clippers player on the edge of the eighteen-yard box, and received a straight red card in the seventy-third minute.
The remainder of the match was physical and spirited, with Kingston pushing to find a leveller, while ANB looked to regain its once dominant lead. In the end, ANB held on for the win.
This is a meaningful victory for ANB, a result that Naim looks to build on.
“Points like these help with motivation,” said Naim. “We are a young team that is looking to build for the future, and we’ll continue working towards playing better quality football and earning results.”
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