AEK vs. Panionios Match Report

We lined up like this:

Lyberopoulos—Blanco
Rivaldo—————–Edinho
Toszer—-Kafes
Bourbos—————-Pilatsikas
Alves—-Dellas
Macho

And everyone played well, even Pilatsikas who is arguably a class below the rest of the team (though steadily improving as he gets more first team experience).  At the start of the second half, Kallon subbed in for Lyberopoulos; in the 59th minute, Ramos Silva went in for Edinho; and in the 71st minute, Nsaliwa went in for Kafes.  Kostenoglou made smart moves on each count.  Lyberopoulos and Kafes were not contributing much and Edinho had picked up a yellow.

Refreshingly, all of our goals were during regular play (no set piece goals today!).  First, in the 28th minute, Rivaldo sent a perfect hight cross to Edinho who knocked it to the ground with his chest and, with his very next touch, nailed the ball of its bounce into the goal.  Edinho followed up this opener with a nice goal celebration wherein he pulled a corner flag out of the ground and used it to hoist his jersey in the air.

The second goal came in the 35th minute on a nice solo effort by Rivaldo.  In the 74th minute, Toszer, who had a great game overall, won posession, beat a man with some nice fakes and sent a through ball to Kallon who, instead of taking a justified shot, unselfishly flicked a pass to Blanco who poached our third goal.  3-0.  The fourth goal was in the 76th minute, Rivaldo making it look a little too easy off an assist from Pilatsikas.  The final goal came in the 91st minute when Blanco squared up with Panionios’s keeper only to flick it to his left so that Kallon could nail it into an undefended net.  Each goal exemplified the highest level of team play and unselfishness. 

Overall, the team was even better than the score line indicates.  There were countless brilliant passing sequences that did not result in goals, like the one in the 75th minute that started in the back and worked all the way up the field only to see a nice Blanco shot saved by the keeper.  For the past two months, our offense has really looked amazing.  Blanco, Edinho and Rivaldo in particular, but also Lyberopoulos and Kallon, link up, run off the ball and distribute to one another like they have been playing together for years.  Throw in Bourbos’s runs down the left side, his accurate passing and his ability to take on defenders, and it starts to look like total football.

Bourbos had a terrific game.  In the 13th minute, he moved the ball up and sent a perfect cross to Edinho who headed it just over the cross bar.  In the 19th minute, Bourbos beat a defender on the sideline, dribbled closer to the goal and shot a low ball just wide of the goal.  This guy does everything Arruabarrena was supposed to do.

Toszer had a good game too, fighting for balls, winning posession and trying to initiate play, but the Toszer-Kafes and Toszer-Nsaliwa partnerships did not show the reliability and confidence of the Zikos-Kafes partnership we have enjoyed the last two months.  The Basinas signing, if it goes through, is surely just what our midfield needs right now.

Like I said, everyone played well.  It’s hard to find fault, but if someone held a gun to my head and said, tell me one thing that AEK did wrong, I would have to point to the defense.   There were some unecessarily shaky moments. In the 13th minute, for example, Dellas, covering the right side, gave his mark too much space and got beat.  In the meantime, the rest of the defense had left not one but two men unmarked in front of our goal.  They one-touch passed it around three times before Macho ended our potential misery by making an excellent save at close range.  Then again, in the 36th minute, when Panionios were taking a corner, we left a man completely unmarked right in front of our goal.  Not unexpectedly, he got his head on the ball but fortunately for us, knocked it right into the ground in front of Macho, who was able to grab it on the first bounce.  Thank god Macho is as reliable as he is.  I remember thinkind during this game how glad I was that Kostenoglou has ended that nonsense of starting Moretto over Macho.

Overall though, our team deserves credit.  They have come through a hard-fought season the best team in the league.  And though a legal manuever and some questionable EPO decisions meant that AEK finished second instead of a deserved first, they are playing these play-off games with all the skill and sweat and heart of true champions.  Today, seeing the looks on their faces as they nailed goal after goal, each one indicating better than words of legal briefs how reprensible the EPO’s management of Greek Soccer has become, I felt as proud of us as I have ever before.  Bravo AEK and onward!