Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 78 - Minden FC's

The last game in twelve days, Koln Athletics played against Minden FC on home soil. Thomas Sobek made substantial rotations in the line-up, but the attacker did not change. Raynaldi is still starting on the pitch, and Robert is still sitting on the bench.

Thomas Sobek also wanted to try a double forward, but the team of doctors advised Robert not to play too long in the game. Thomas Sobek decided to let Robert continue sitting on the bench, if the scene does not open, then send him.

Minden FC played against Koln Athletics in the first half of the season. Minden FC beat Koln Athletics 1-1 on the road. It was also the start of Koln Athletics' ten-game winless run.

So Thomas Sobek put a lot of importance on this game and made a detailed tactical implementation before the game.

Four games in twelve days left all the teams exhausted. Athletics are very tired, but there are other advantages to them. There were three home games in four games in these twelve days, and there was a bit of a long way to go.

Minden FC went through four matches with three of them being away matches. They seemed to be more tired than the Athletic Cologne. Their opponent is 1.Mainz in the last game, and most of them spent a lot of energy.

After the coin toss, the Athletic Koln chooses to get the ball first.

Thomas Sobek's goal is very clear, try stealing one at the beginning, and if it doesn't work, think of another way.

In less than two minutes, Raynaldi looked for opportunities through a wing breakthrough. After successfully passing right-back Minden FC, he sent the ball into the middle and ran into the penalty box.

Deschamp, receiving a pass from Raynaldi, fired from the middle. Goalkeeper Minden FC responded and threw the ball back. Raynaldi who was in the penalty box followed up and scored a blank goal.

The score changed 1-0 for the Athletic Cologne advantage.

“GOOOOOAAL!!! Just two minutes into the match and Koln Athletics took the lead with Ray's goal! A great side breakthrough from Ray, he passed the ball to where Deschamp was empty. Although the goalkeeper Minden FC, Herarld was able to brush off the ball. Ray's extra shot managed to suppress the Athletic Koln's lead! Score now 1-0!” Andrei shouted excitedly in his narrative.

Thomas Sobek and the coaching staff of Koln Athletics also smiled in satisfaction after seeing this goal. Their initial strategy worked, and the next game would be easy to play.

The Koln Athletics defence was excellent, especially the two midfielders Van Buren and Lindbergh. The most prominent aspect of these two men is their physical fitness. So far, both have played 27 league rounds, most of them All starters.

The roles of these two people not only in midfield, backcourt and frontcourt could see them.

The game returned to the regular rhythm of Koln Athletics, but this time Raynaldi did not wait for a counter-attack up front, and Deschamp was at the forefront, Raynaldi doing some back-to-back work in midfield.

More recently, Raynaldi has strengthened his technical attributes and delivered many imaginative assists in the game. Thomas Sobek decided to put Raynaldi a little behind. After all, he was also good at long-range shots, so this position was very comfortable to maximize Raynaldi's ability.

Except for Deschamp's poor ability to catch the odds up front, this is also a worthy combination to try in Koln Athletics' counter-attacking strategy.

Deschamp sent the inverted triangle operand from below. Raynaldi who was in the front of the box responded with a hard shot into the top right corner of the goal and scored.

A 2-0 lead was maintained until the end of the first half.

In the second half, Minden FC struggled for a while and failed to score. Instead, Koln Athletics took advantage of this opportunity to score again. This time Deschamp scored.

Raynaldi who received the ball in front of the penalty box managed to attract the attention of the entire Minden FC defensive line and make Deschamp's position free in the empty space.

Raynaldi who saw Deschamp's better position than him, without hesitation sent a pass to Deschamp's position. Minden FC goalkeeper Herarld who was too focused on Raynaldi failed to respond and Deschamp easily broke into the Minden FC goal.

The score changed to 3-0, for the Athletic Koln advantage.

The overall situation was decided, Thomas Sobek replaced Raynaldi, and Robert came on the bench, but in the end, Minden FC got a goal back.

Robert was very depressed. After he replaced Raynaldi, the trend of the game was less precise. While it cannot be said to be reversed, Raynaldi scored two goals and an assist when he was on the pitch. When Raynaldi came out, the team lost a goal.

It also reminds Thomas Sobek to get a good goalscorer next season to duet with Dario Robert who is a purely tactical center. However, Raynaldi will only be in the team until the end of the season.

Raynaldi's early switch in this match was also due to consideration of the week of international matches after this. Raynaldi will probably go deep into Asia for the last 40 of the 2010 AFC World Cup preliminary round. Thomas Sobek does not want his players to be exhausted and fall injured after this international week.

Now Koln Athletics are in a positive trend for promotion, and they cannot afford to lose their attacking core now due to injury.

“Ray, actually if I could choose I really don't want you to go to Dubai for international matches. But this is a FIFA A level match and the club cannot refuse. So I replaced you early to save your energy.” Thomas Sobek patted Raynaldi on the shoulder with a slightly reluctant expression.

“I know what you think coach. I will also be careful when playing in Dubai and Doha. In addition, I also only play for FIFA A level matches and I also missed many friendly matches that are not FIFA A level matches during this March.” Raynaldi also explained his condition to Thomas Sobek.

“OK, I know what you mean. And also defending the homeland is also the duty of a citizen as you said before this match. I just hope you will show good results and come back healthy after this.” Thomas Sobek accepted Raynaldi's explanation and did not want to discuss it further.

“Yeah, thanks coach. Besides, I will only play in 2 games against the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Coach Frans also said I don't need to go into the game against Guam who is weaker than us.” Ray thanks for the cooperation of Thomas Sobek.

“OK, aren't you going to leave tonight? Be careful on the road.”