Setting the stage
The time, monday evening, long after days of incessant downpoors in our hometown of Amsterdam had flooded Ashandarei's practice fields and forced the team to move inside for their practices. The location, estrelinha stadium, which I gather means something like Starlet Stadium, a rather odd name for a stadium... The opponent, 29th ranked Cagalican United. The stage, (only) the third round of the cup tournament. What had gone before, a thorough 0-3 beating at home the week before and looking at the skill differential on the field we got lucky the final score wasn't even worse. From my experience in a past Xpert Eleven life I know how difficult it is to win the cup tournament, even the very best teams in the league have trouble making it all the way to the end, let alone a young team that probably won't manage to gain promotion from division 5. So I think it would be safe to say the odds were not in our favor...
The match
Having lost the first match of the home-and-home 0-3 (at home) it was safe to say no sane person would put money on us making it to the fourth round of the cup tournament. If this had been a movie, I'd probably now relate the unlikely tale of a team of untested teenagers that overcame incredible odds to do the impossible. Unfortunately, real life is much less fantastical and only the part about the teenagers is true. Cagalican United, being the veteran team they are, easily took care of business again, this time with a 2-0 victory that was never in doubt. So, is there nothing positive to be taken from this match? Not so! Cagalican United may be the better team, but manager Aemon proved this monday that he has the skill to take his team all the way to the top just as soon as his young squad of misfits grows up and comes of age. After all, the fact that the final result was only 2-0 and not 5-0 is a direct result of his superb tactical skill.
So now what?
Ashandarei is out of the cup, just as expected, and is firmly in the middle of the pack in Division 5:2. And since relegation would not be a disaster, while promotion is all but impossible, now is the time to have a closer look at the team and see who has a role going forward and who's time with the club is all but over. As a result youth academy talent Niels Breinburg has already been sold and others, including veteran leaders Louis-Paul Kacha, Eric Jouabe Moutchen and Mayer Yombi Ayakan, who is quietly having a fantastic season with six goals already in just three matches, have been put on the transfer market. Meanwhile, Ashandarei just signed underrated forward Aaron Ross, but even his stay may not be permanent as no one's spot on the team appears to be certain right now. Only time will tell who will still be with the team at the end of this season, let alone in a year or two...
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