Miguel Trincado Settier’s rising stars take on the experienced Spanish strong hands in the first elimination round of the Konami Cup. Forced to rest regular keeper Curtis and midfield inspiration Delgado, how will Settier‘s partly reshuffled team fare in the pressure cooker of the second round?

An early passage of play in the fourth minute saw Peter Lewbrant threaded into the penalty area by strike partner Binoth Rooijmans, but opposition keeper Sanzol saw the danger early and intercepted the pass. Lewbrant was put through again less than five minutes later when Rud Risum‘s vision caught the striker unmarked in the box, but the referee’s assistant raised his flag with a controversial decision that brought hoots of displeasure from the home fans. TV replays showed Lewbrant‘s right leg had strayed just beyond the last defender, justifying the decision.

Frustration

Pierce found himself free on the left with ten minutes played and checked inside before taking a fierce shot at goal that looked nearer than it actually was. Although a formidable striker of the ball, even Pierce would have been fortunate to see such an optimistic shot swing into the net.

Kevin Karkfeld had impressed in the previous game and so won another starting place, and was unlucky not to put his team ahead early on. A magnificent turn on the edge of the box put him clean away from his marker, but his right-foot shot was rather tamely hit and Sanzol pushed it around the post for a corner. Rooijmans shouted at the youngster, gesticulating at his feet as he was some eight yards out, unmarked and rather more of a natural goalscorer than Karkfeld.

Not all the action was around the Osasuna goal, however. Sorensson almost landed his team in all manner of trouble when a soft pass to the Dejesus was intercepted by Aloisi, but he was unable to control the ball and it bobbled away from him for a goal kick.

Impatience

LGU quickly broke down the other end and when Rud Risum picked the unmarked Prince out in the box with a chipped ball the LGU fans rose as one. Prince‘s first header ballooned upwards, buying the Osasuna defence time to bring numbers back and clear the danger. Sighs and groans rippled around the fans; the atmosphere in the stadium was different today, not one of patient hope but impatient expectation. After the last two excellent displays LGU fans’ hope has given way to belief that this year they have the quality.

They endured a nervous thirty seconds as Osasuna had three real chances, all caused by poor passing play from LGU defenders, but thankfully for the increasingly frazzled supporters Dejesus was bright and aware in his first start to take care of the danger.

The half-time whistle did little to calm the supporters’ nerves. For the first time this season, I heard derisive whistles in the LGU Arena, and so set about to interview some of the fans to see what they thought of their team so far.

“Fans are unrealistic”

“I think we’ve had the better of the game, we haven’t had many clear chances but with the players we’ve got all it takes is a Lewbrant shot or a Rooijmans header and it’s 1-0,” self-entitled überfan Sean Landgraff told me.

When I asked him about the boos at half-time, he replied “I think all the press attention we’ve been getting has boosted our profile and maybe now we’re getting a few more non-fans at the games, people who expect three goals a game. We’re a small club on a cup run, you know? Let’s be realistic here.”

The boos were quieter but still noticeable when the teams took to the field for the second half. The real jeers, however, came when Rooijmans finally shook off his marker and burst into the penalty area. With Rud Risum and Peter Lewbrant both free and waiting for a pass, the referee mystifyingly blew his whistle to signal a free kick to Osasuna, making a pushing movement. The whole stadium seemed to sigh and throw its arms in the air at such a bizarre decision.

LGU had their clearest chance of the day when Lewbrant found himself in half a yard on the edge of the box and let off one of his increasingly-famous right-foot shots, but somehow an Osasuna defender got across to cover. The rebounding ball fell to Prince, and his cross fizzed across the six-yard area just inches above Rooijmans‘ desperate leap. The fans’ reaction told you they were beginning to believe it just wasn’t their day.

In the 80th minute, this feeling swelled. The usually strong defensive team of Adinolfi and Hoogstrate were nowhere to be seen as Aloisi was put clean through, and not even Dejesus‘s sprint and lunge could prevent him from trickling the ball into the empty goal for 0-1.

When the whistle blew the boos had disappeared, replaced by stunned silence.

Landgraff United 0 – 1 Atletico Osasuna