Leyenda (7.8); Villafañe (6.4), A. Franco (7.2), Coyant (7.6), Fernández (6.1); Garnier (7.0), Caballero (7.0), López (8.1), Lorefice (7.6); Pratto (6.7), Valdemarín (7.4)
Subs: Monesterolo (7.2), Velázquez (6.8), Perafán, Pérez, Ramírez;
02'
1-0 Lucas Valdemarín
32'
2-0 Pablo López
55'
2-1 Facunda Sava (pen.)
72'
3-1 Sebastián Monesterolo
45' Lucas Pratto
Sebastián Monesterolo
73' Pablo Caballero
Leandro Valézquez
80' Pablo López
Patricio Pérez
Pablo López (Defensa y Justicia)
Nine out of three, do I need to say more about my mood? It's just fantastic. I even catch myself singing the club anthem of Defensa at work or when someone asks me something, I automatically respond with "Pablo López". It is all about Defensa y Justicia, 24/7. With nine points in the pocket and alone at the top of the league, I wonder how far we can go or if this is just a lucky start and things will settle the way they should be really soon...
Pre-Match
Like I said in my previous post, after playing against two clubs who are supposed to finish somewhere near me, it was now time to play Quilmes, a title challenger. Their start was impressive as well. Both matches were won 1-0 and they managed to win those both without creating a clear cut chance. It has to be said that the opponent didn't as well. So they apparently try to win their matches without getting too tired. We on the other hand try to play attractive football and intend to play the ball forward whenever possible. The same was for this match. In the previous match, I played with an AMC and DMC for a while. It worked so well that I decided to start the match with the 4-4-2 diamond formation. There were no changes compared to the last match again San Martin de San Juan. Monesterolo started on the bench again, hoping for another supersub role. Pratto's first team place was flagged and I kept on his performance today. It is fantastic to have such a quality striker like Monesterolo on the bench but if Pratto doesn't perform it is useless to keep playing him from the start every time.
According to the press we faced a difficult challenge against Quilmes. These were the odds:
Def. y Justicia: 7-2
Draw: 9-4
Quilmes: 4-6 (Fav)
The Match
Still watching on full match. It gives me the opportunity to see what works and what definitely doesn't. The touchline instructions are more effective if you use the full match mode anyway. And I love those touchline instructions...
After the match kicked off, I looked at how the opponent played, like I always do. Do they play wide or narrow? Are the striker roaming or pretty static? Do they try to find a solution to keep possession or will they try it on the counter attack? All important questions to be answered if you want to find the weaknesses of an opponent who is better on paper. Before I was able to answer all these questions, Lucas Valdemarín decided to show it to me by scoring the 1-0 after only playing for two minutes. He received the ball from Pablo López just outside the box. By going past three opponents and finishing the ball in the far corner, he showed me something I didn't even knew he could. A fantastic dribble from our 31-year old striker and it gave us an important lead. Defending for the remaining 88 minutes is asking for trouble so we went on controlling the match and try to create more chances. We went to play a more narrow game and try to look for space through the middle. In the 32nd minute, Caballero received the ball in the middle of the pitch and found Valdemir who ran into the space at the left side of the pitch where Caballero was normally positioned. Valdemarin's cross was headed away by a defender of Quilmes but picked up by our DM, Lorefice. With a quick and beautiful killer ball, he found Pablo López totally unmarked in the box. López kept his head cool and with an one-on-one with the goalie, he made it 2-1 and it seems like the match was pretty over. Quilmes showed they lacked creativity at midfield and it seemed like Defensa simply wanted it more.
It was obvious that in half-time, Sebastián Monesterolo went on the pitch and it was for Lucas Pratto again. Pratto's potential is huge but we currently play in the present and for now, he can't show his qualities to the team.
The second half was a bit boring until our right full back Villafañe tried to go for the most stupid tackle of the season award. At the touchline, inside our own box, he made a tackle from behind and it gave Quilmes a penalty out of nowhere. They didn't even know who was defending the goal of Defensa until now. Striker Facundo Sava didn't waste this unexpected opportunity and made it a match again. So it was 2-1 and still 35 minutes to go. I told the players to win more battles and show Quilmes that the three points stay here. It was waiting for Monesterolo to score his goal as well and this didn't take too long. In the 72th minute, the goalie of Quilmes made a major mistake and Monesterolo punished him by scoring the 3-1 and this time, it was really the end of Quilmes. It was the full time result and another thee points for the boys in green and yellow.
There were 3.611 football fanatics watching this game in the stadium. There is room for 8.000 so our job is to prove to the supporters that it is worth visiting a match of Defensa y Jusiticia!
Conclusion
One of the things we have to work on is finishing our chances. With five clear cut chances and some long shot opportunities, we created more than enough but also give some away. We need to finish the chances we get. If we do this, we can give something away as well.
Only downside to this match is that Pablo Caballero twisted his knee and will be out for three weeks. A real bummer because he already gave three assists in the same number of matches. Let's hope Leandro Velázquez can do his job just as well.
Next Opponent
Next up is Comisión de Actividades Infantiles (Commission of Infantile Activities), the number four of the league. They won two matches and drew one so far. This is going to be a really tough away fixture and we have to work hard in order to stay at the top of the league. The winning streak is fantastic but we need to be realistic and look at one match at a time. We don't know what one loss will do to the team.
In the meantime, if you decide to comment, why don't share your thought on the upcoming match? Anything I could try out or perhaps you want to predict the result? Or maybe you are missing some match information and would like to see it in the next match post. It's all appreciated...
