June 9, 2024...Entergetic Elijah, Marki on the Mend and Formation Flourish: What We Learned from Sunday's Stalemate
(from York United FC website)

ENERGETIC ELIJAH, MARKI ON THE MEND AND FORMATION FLOURISH: WHAT WE LEARNED FROM SUNDAY'S STALEMATE
Ridwan Asante runs the rule over the weekend's 2-2 draw with Vancouver FC.

THE DETAILS

York United were pegged back by a second-half penalty as they shared the spoils with Vancouver FC in a 2-2 draw. So many positives for The Nine Stripes who missed several regulars but still managed to avoid defeat. Goals from rare sources Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy and Juan Cordova should delight Head Coach Benjamin Mora who took charge of his first game. Here are some of our observations on the match.

MARKI VOYTSEKHOVSKYY LOOKS REBORN

It’s difficult for a player to recapture his assertiveness and verve after a lengthy layoff. Last July, the 20-year-old suffered a season-ending injury after fracturing a fifth metatarsal in his left foot. Head Coach Benjamin Mora assigned him to lead the attack in his 3-5-2 formation and the Ukraine-born amped his pedigree with a goal (the game’s opener on 12 minutes) and set up Juan Cordova to smash in a scorcher before the break. Voytsekhovskyy was replaced after 65 minutes by another young talent: Trivine Esprit.

ADEKUGBE THE ANCHOR

Elijah Adekugbe partnered Josue Martinez and Juan Cordova in midfield and he did justice to that. He completed all four of his long balls and 57 pass attempts.

Adekugbe was named Man of the Match and the hard working player expressed delight at his output.

"I guess I had time and space but to me it was just a case of doing my job, doing my role. The tactics were clear. I knew what I had to do and it was just a case of execution," he said in his post-match interview.

"For me, last year was tough. I was injured a lot and I wasn't able to contribute on the pitch as I wanted to. So, a big focus of mine was just getting back to where I thought I wanted it to be. I'm happy that I could do a little bit today for the group. We want to win and that's where we want to take this club. That was a good performance today. We'll see where we can take it."

A NEW BACK-THREE FORMATION SURVIVES THE TEST

York United were without six regulars for this encounter. Captain Mo Babouli and Brian Wright sat out the match due to back and quad problems, while Matthew Baldisimo was also in the treatment room. Dennis Salanovic was away on international duty with Liechtenstein, Austin Ricci had to contend with best man duty at his brother's wedding in Italy and Orlando Botello was suspended due to yellow card accumulation. Nonetheless, The Nine Stripes managed to avoid defeat against one of the strongest sides in the CPL so far.

Head Coach Benjamin Mora revealed the adjustments and sacrifices they needed to overcome.

"Marki played as a number nine and hadn't played that position. Juan [Cordova] was playing in the middle of the pitch - he didn't play that position. The three centre backs were playing for the first time together. So, there were some changes that we made in five days of training. I think we did a good job. Unfortunately, the other two points would have been the cherry on the cake. But I think it's gonna get better and better," he disclosed in his post-match conference.

"Tactically, we can play differently: with a line of four, with two in the middle instead of three. We can also play with two strikers instead of one. That doesn't matter. The formations and the tactical disposition and the shape is not the important thing, because that is set up because of the opponent's qualities, characteristics, etc. What we are going to see is a willingness to run, to fight, to go forward, to be an attacking team, to keep possession. In the few days that we had, we tried to implement some concepts and principles of play. The players ran more than ever, they connected with each other as a team, they were in a compact block and we were attacking all the time, from the side, from the flanks, from inside."

Ridwan Ibrahim Asante

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