This match may have only been Milan Futuro's third match of the Serie D season, but it was their fifth match in 17 days, which included a trip to England for their win over Everton U21. And while it might seem that tired legs would prevail, it seemed a little more like practice makes perfect. After their 2-1 victory over Brusaporto, Coach Navarro noted that the first half was probably their best so far, and I would have to agree. And while the second half was a different story as perhaps a bit of fatigue did kick in, Milan Futuro pulled it off. A hard-fought midweek tenacious victory.
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| Milan Futuro celebrate the winning goal in the 90th minute after a tenacious second half. |
For this one, Navarro started a 4-2-3-1 with: Pittarella; Cappelletti, Zukić, Pagliei, Perera; Pandolfi, Malick Cissè, Ossola (captain), Silvano Vos, Castiello; and Asanji. From kickoff, Milan Futuro were on the attack, showing no mercy against the visitors. Just six minutes in, Castiello scored after a Futuro corner kick. 1-0 Milan Futuro. After that, the entire first half was basically target practice, including chances from Ossola, Asanji, Cappelletti, Silvano Vos, Pagliei was shown a yellow card in the 19th minute, but Navarro's side absolutely dominated play, with Brusaporto maybe getting one free kick from distance as their only shot in the half.
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| Navarro's starting 11 for this match. |
The second half was basically the opposite, however, and Pittarella was called into action repeatedly. Navarro subbed Sala on to replace Asanji in the 61st minute, then Bonomi replaced Castiello in the 63rd minute. Vladimirov replaced Ossola in the 70th minute, so the captain's armband went to Silvano Vos. Brusaporto came ever so close to scoring in the 75th minute, when a shot across the goal hit the inside of the post, but bounced out. The fnal sub for Futuro was in the 79th minute when Luca Menon replaced Pandolfi. Milan defended for their lives, and Pittarella mad a number of great saves.
Finally, in the 90th minute, Bonomi sent a cross into Silvano Vos, who was wide open, and scored the second goal to make it Milan Futuro 2-0. Unfortunately, two minutes later, Prandini scored a great goal from edge of the area in stoppage time to make it 2-1, but Brusaporto ran out of time to make a comeback. Brief highlights are available, or the full match replay is also available.
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| Silvano Vos, wearing the captain's armband, scores the winning goal. |
This was a match where Milan could have easily crumbled and dropped points, but they held out through a tough second half and were even able to get the second goal which ultimately was needed for the three points. Despite the loss on the second match day, this win pushed them back into fourth place in Group B. They will face Villa Valle away on Sunday for their third match of the week.
This post inspired by the music of Dara's "Bangaranga"
Sunday, September 20 • 11:00 CEST (5 am EDT)
This match is not being televised in the U.S.
Villa Valle vs. Milan Futuro
Sunday, September 20 • 15:00 CEST (9am EDT)
This match can be streamed on Villa Ville's YouTube channel
Sunday, September 20 • 20:45 CEST (2:45pm EDT)
Reviewed by Elaine
on
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