Turkey vs Lebanon 2-4

by James Stringer from Tripoli

OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT

In a fairy even encounter today Lebanon sealed victory with two goals a piece in each half. In the early stages of the game it was Lebanon who took the initiative and seemed to control most of the play with the Turkish team happy to sit back and counter attack.
The first goal came from a driven corner that was left by the Turkish players and found it’s way through to Atwi Hayssam who slotted it into the back of the net. After that goal Turkey began to come back into the game again hitting the post from 15M out. A hard challenge on Lebanon’s El Kakhi Rabie Jamil stopped play as he received attention but was able to carry on. They continued to press and had a couple of long range efforts before Kawssan Kassem scored with a shot from inside the area.

The second half started with Lebanon on the back foot as Turkey put a lot more pressure on the ball with some nice attacking play. Lebanon hit the post and crossbar before Turkey grabbed a goal back, some nice play through the middle ends up in the box, the ball is held up by Ozcan Cihan and slotted in by Saglam Cuma Aziz. After that goal Lebanon began to pick up from where they started in the first half and very quickly established their 2 goal cushion. After some neat play through midfield the ball ends up at Koutany Jean’s feet and with only the goalkeeper to beat he hits a powerful effort underneath the Turkish keeper.

Turkey didn’t let their heads drop at all and pressed the Lebanon players but were caught on the counter on the counter attack only to be let off by the Lebanon player hitting the crossbar. They did pull a goal back through a thunderous 15M strike from Erdal Yasin. With less than a minute to go Turkey changed formation to play with a fly keeper and went for the draw only to be caught out by a lobbed effort from Takaji Khaled which brought a frantic last few minutes of play to an end.

Most Valuable Player Takaji Khaled said “The opening ceremony was amazing and the preparation is very good. We are very happy with the result and everybody played well.”
It is well worth reporting that El Kakhi Rabie Jamil has not picked up any injuries going into their next match against Croatia.


Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com