'58 ❌ Roy Konfino saves Nacho Duek's penalty
'80 ⚽️ 1-0 Ran Sarusi goal, Niv Gittelman assist
'94 ⚽️ 2-0 Tom Printac goal, Max Russell assist
Top row (from left to right): Gato Schwalb, Martin Siber, Zequi Lubocki, Uriel Benita, Alex Yassin, Thomy Alfie, Misha Marianoff, Max Russell, Facu Cervigni, Martin Lagman, Alan Kaler, David Hovav, Tom Printac, Ran Sarusi, Niv Gittelman, Daniel Rubio and Ehud Eblagon.
Bottom row (from left to right): Sam Sank, Nico Milieris, Kevin Packer, Kevin Natanzon, Nacho Duek, Titi Cabuli, Gabi Bruck, Didi Hovav and Chebi Saidmann.
Top row (from left to right): Elijah Golding, Matt Keston, Roman Shapiro, Dudu Kreimer, Ben Mordukhovich, Alex Branum, Nate Sadoun, Asher Goldberg, Joey Spijer and Sam Sank.
Bottom row (from left to right): Roy Konfino, Zack Shooter, Eli Kolach, James Green, Reuben Lewis, Eze Brotsky, Bari Pikin, Jayden Youngleson and Eliran Pinto.
The third-ever competitive meetup between our two amateur teams; Inter Blue and Inter White faced off in the group stage of the IFLI Cup, with the former beating the latter twice already this season in the league.
The match itself was a fantastic team performance from both sides. It was a game that had everything - chances on both ends, hard tackles all over the pitch and many individual battles. At the end of the match, it was yet again Inter Blue that came out with the victory, which takes them to a 3-0 record against Inter White and that much closer to the next round of the cup.
Within the first minute, a huge tackle by Eze Brotsky saw his shoulder dislocated. To everyone’s amazement, Bari Pikin came over and put the shoulder back in place. Eze missed the remainder of the game.
The first 15 minutes were action-packed and end to end. Inter White's Alex Branum looked very dangerous on his return, rounding Gato Schwalb in the Inter Blue goal but wasn’t able to find the net.
Inter Blue came close with a free-kick, courtesy of Nacho Duek, which produced a good save from Roy Konfino. Whilst Inter Blue did keep more of the possession it was Inter White that looked more dangerous going forward.
Just before halftime, Inter White had three huge chances in the space of a couple of minutes, as Zack Shooter combined with Dudu Kreimer who missed a one-on-one putting it wide.
On the next attack, Zack found Jayden Youngleson who blasted towards goal, but Gato made a superb save. Then from the resulting corner, it dropped to Jayden again but as it fired towards goal it hit Roman Shapiro. The game remained level at the half-time break.
In the second half, Inter Blue played with relentless energy and putting an additional player in midfield served them well to get more of the possession. However, it was Inter White with the next best chance as Jayden beat his man on the right but was again denied by Gato when the two faced up. Eliran Pinto was put in on goal soon after, but at a slight angle, and wasn’t able to find the power to finish.
Then, a fantastic through ball by Nacho was met by Facu Cervigni who took a touch around Roy Konfino who brought him down in the box. Nacho stepped up to take the penalty, but Roy was on hand to save the spot-kick as the drama continued.
Eventually, the goals would come and it was Inter Blue who made the breakthrough. A long ball by Niv Gittelman was poorly dealt with by Reuben Lewis, who put the keeper in a 50-50 with Ran Sarusi. Ran outjumped Roy and won the header to score the game's opener and spark wild celebrations all over the pitch and in the stands.
In the final minute of the game, Inter White lost the ball in the Blue's defensive third as they desperately tried to find an equalizer. After a quick outlet pass from Max Russell found Tom Printac, he was able to dribble all the way towards the goal before rounding Roy and making it 2-0 at the death.
Inter Blue coach Zequi Lubocki said after the game, ''Overall, a great team performance which showed our team’s strong mentality and resilience. Great to see our family and friends support the team as always for big games like that which we can hopefully replicate in two weeks' time against Emek.''
Meanwhile, Matt Keston, the Inter White manager commented, ''Huge disappointment for everyone, a very bitter pill to swallow, but apart from lack of finishing, we did really look like a good outfit a lot of the time out there.''
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