Monrovia — FC Fassell suffered their first defeat of a pre-season camp by losing 5-0 to Al Shams Sports Club in Heliopolis outside Cairo, Egypt on 1 September.
By Danesius Marteh, [email protected]
There was a brace for Bebo and one each for Ousmane, Rizk and Doksh in a match dominated by a team that plays in the Egyptian second division.
The Soccer Missionaries were short of ideas and were outplayed in an aggressive match in which they were down 4-0 at half time.
Coach Ivan Minnaert’s decision to select a second-string team backfired and he will prepare for his next training pondering on such a heavy defeat.
Fassell were woeful with their passes and the defense was caught unaware several times so much so that they were down 2-0 after only 15 minutes.
Al Shams were on a different level to Fassell in a win so comprehensive that it will bring renewed scrutiny on Ivan’s team when the Orange first division starts in October.
Ivan gave the bulk of his first team players, who had participated in three friendlies, a day-off.
Liberia international Tonia Tisdell wore the captain’s armband but there were concerns as to why Ivan didn’t play Delton Kollie, Robin Hney, Edwin Diamond Johnson, Josephus Mantor, Josiah Chea and Titus Yeah, who arrived in Cairo on 29 August.
They played an integral part when Fassell defeated second division side AS Raja of Egypt 3-0 at the Jewel Sports Park in Cairo on 31 August.
Hney, Musa Jabateh and Mark Yallah were on target but they watched from the stands as their teammates were being hammered.
Captain Zah Kranger joined deputy coach Matthew Julutweh at half time to give some pep talks and it must have paid-off with Fassell conceding a goal from the penalty spot.
And Julutweh, who took charge of technical matters, wasn’t disappointed by the defeat. “That’s why we are in the pre-season. Pre-season enables you to know your strengths and lapses. So I am not disappointed with the results.
“We wanted to know who we can change from our first team and second team. That is why we brought a whole new team. We played four friendlies, drew two, won one and lost one. So it is a good performance overall,” said Julutweh.
Al Shams head coach Taha Shehat said he will win a rematch but praised his opponents. “I know you have a very good team but we will beat you again if we play a rematch. We played a very difficult match yesterday [Saturday] in our national championship.
“So, we were very aggressive. You have a good team and good luck to you,” said Taha Shehat.
Fassell will continue their preparation with training before wrapping up on 7 September.
Line-ups
Fassell: 2-Tonia Tisdell (captain), 6-Emmanuel Reyah, 7-Moulton Sayon, 8-Daoda Bortu, 11-Emmanuel Bunipele, 12-Morris Kromah (goalie), 16-Sekou Kamara, 18-Peter Sorbor, 19-Amos Diamagyie, 26-Edwin Gbanyan and 27-Musa Jabateh.
Substitutes: 28-Nawfal Chbada, 29-Vitalis Sie, Jr., 31-Edwdard Weeks, 32-Junior Juduboy and 33-John Weah.
Al Shams: 2-Yoseef, 3-Iwan Farid, 4-Osman, 5-Taha El Shickh, 7-Hamad, 8-Mohammed Mayoud, 9-Bebo, 10-Gedo, 12-Mohammed Rezk (captain), 16-Omar Nasr (goalie) and 20-Riko.
Substitutes: 6-Nader Afef, 11-Omar Said, 13-Soksok, 14-Camara, 15-Omar Aliby, 17-Doksh, 18-Eto, 19-Basem Helmy, 26-Ebrahim Hassan, 28-Hzem Medhat and 30-Adel.
Match officials: Mostafa Osman (referee), Emad Farg (assistant referee #1) and Mostafa Mosaad (assistant referee #2).
