Fulham versus Radnicki Split – Europa League Qualification: First half review (Part 1)
After drawing with Radnicki Split on their travels in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Croatia-c2879, Fulham hosted the second leg of their Europa League qualification playoff against their Eastern European opponents at the Craven Cottage on 4th of August,
2011. Fulham achieved a scoreless draw against Radnicki on their home stadium therefore they needed a win in London to seal their progression to the next round of the Europa League qualification.
Fulham started with Mark Schwarzer in goal, the Australian goalkeeper was protected by a four man defence of Aaron Hughes, Senderos, Hangeland and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Arne-Riise-c18833. In the midfield region, Damien Duff and Clint Dempsey played on
the wing whilst Etuhu and Danny Murphy started as the Cottagers’ central midfielders. Bobby Zamora and Andrew Johnson led Fulham’s offensive line as they partnered each other in Fulham’s attack. On the other hand, Radnicki went with the following line up of
Vukovic, Milovic, Krizanac, Vidic, Budisa, Vitaic, Marcic, Simic, Baraban, Erceg and Cop.
Fulham started the match off strongly as they had a wonderful chance to open the scoring in the 2nd minute of the match when they were awarded a free kick on the right wing by the referee. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-c10193 Murphy stepped up to
take the set piece and he wasted no time in finding Damien Duff inside the Radnicki penalty area. Unluckily for Duff and Fulham, the Irishman’s shot was just wide of the mark despite the fact that he was quite close to the goal.
In the 4th minute of the match, Djue Cop tried his luck at Fulham’s goal from outside the home team’s penalty area. It was a wayward shot by the Radnicki striker as it sailed over the cross bar and failed to force a
save out of Mark Schwarzer. In the 7th minute, Andy Johnson found himself in space just outside the away team’s penalty area. The Englishman tried to wriggle his way past the Croatian team’s two central defenders but they closed the door on him
and cleared the ball away with relative ease.
In the 8th minute, Radnicki stepped on the gas as they went in for the kill. Predrag Simic took the ball in the central midfield area and tried to find Cop with a delightful chipped past but Hangeland spotted the danger
and headed the ball away as he intercepted the pass before it reached Cop. Fulham dominated the possession for the first ten minutes as Clint Dempsey drifted in from the left hand side and combined with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Zamora-c40983 and Johnson, almost at will. The American midfielder
also linked up with Murphy which created a numerical imbalance for Radnicki in the middle of the park.
Tags: