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Stuttgart, Vazgen Sargsyan Stadium
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‘19:45, I honestly cannot wait. We played Stuttgart a few years ago when we were still a small club and, we lost 1-0 both home and away which was a very good score. We are expected to get battered 4 or 5-0, which is a bad sign. Although if you look at our team, there is quality and chemistry.’
‘We need a good score, I’d say a 0-0 draw is good, or maybe a 2-1 win, but anything can happen. If we progress to the next round I hope AZ win as I don’t want to face the German Champions… even though they failed in the Champions League.’
‘This is the line-up I will go with today…’
‘I will play a 4-3-1-2, although with wingers instead of 3 CM’s.
Garik Krbashyan in goal. He is the worst out of our 3 goalkeepers, but he is very experienced in Europe and he is still very good at this level. The back four will consist of
Gael Andonian at the left, covering their strongest point of assists. The African centre back duo of
Gerard Traore and Emmanuel Muntari, and
William Garay as right back. In our midfield three,
Alexey Kharitonov as our Deep Lying Playmaker. He will create chances while defending at the same time, his best position, a one of a kind player.
Sergio Arguello on the right, he seems to have a bad record in Europe with us (barring the qualifiers where he was fantastic), but I trust him to come up in this game. I have Edgar Mkrtchyan as an immediate replacement though.
Gabriel, instead of Peruibe. It is a controversial choice but Gabriel is just pure quality in Europe, especially as a Defensive Winger which is what we need for this match.
Souza will start his first game as an attacking midfielder. His job will be to dribble and pass, and if he gets the chance; score. Our two strikers;
Christopher Watson the Poacher and
Santiago Krieger, the Deep Lying Forward. Christopher will dribble and shoot, but his main job will be to shoot, as he needs to use his Off the Ball trait most of the time while Santiago will pass, while using his Creativity and Technique.’
‘The start of the match in a couple of seconds, I told the players to play similar to a Smash and Grab. Keep defending, and go for the big counter. Use our talented team to make those chance and score! We could do this, for Armenia, and for us! Let’s do this.’
The Game
‘Kick-off...’
‘13 minutes in, they have 51% of possession. That isn’t exactly bad, as I expected them to play a Smash and Grab style. Gabriel was running into the box with the ball, he passed it to Krieger, a through ball to Gabriel who is deep at the edge of the box and 2 players foul him! “REF! THAT’S A PEN!” I screamed, but due to the vast cheering sounds of the fans, I missed the sound of the whistle. We got a penalty!! Krieger, who has been sublime in Europe, steps up… He takes a few steps and the ‘keeper has no chance!
1-0! “Gabriel, come here! Te amo! (I love you)”, WE ARE ACTUALLY ONE-NIL UP!’
‘Half-time. Nothing notable has happened since the goal has been scored, poor first half to be honest.’
2nd Half
‘Kick-off of the 2nd half. I sub on Edgar Mkrtchyan instead of a poor Arguello, and Dewain McCleary instead of Christopher Watson.’
‘48 minutes into the game, Edgar Mkrtchyan has the ball around 30 yards away although to the very right of the box. He crosses it in from far, it goes into the box where Dewain is supposed to be, although he was delayed by a defender. A little bit of a scuffle, the ball keeps shifting around the box but it goes to middle where Souza runs in and
SHOOTS! GOALL! SOUZA’S FIRST GOAL IN ONLY HIS FIRST START! YES! YES! 2-0!’
‘3 minutes later Kharitonov has the ball, he passes it to Mkrtchyan who is right outside the right edge of the box, he has two defenders in front of him. He turns around, backheels it between the legs of Micheal Hopp, it reaches Souza who
SHOOTS AND SCORES!!! 3-0! THREE F*CKING NIL!’
‘57 minutes and we are 3-0 up, Souza has the ball right outside of the box, he tries to dummy 2 players and ends up weirdly enough on the goal kick line. He controls the ball, dribbles a defender and crosses it in to Kharitonov outside of the box, he heads it to Mkrtchyan on the right side of the box with his back to the goal and the ball at his weaker foot but he takes a first time shot and
SCORES THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF GOALS! WHAT A CURVE AND WE ARE 4-0 UP, MKRTCHYAN HAS BEEN SENSATIONAL!’
‘85 minutes into the game, my phone buzzes. I take it out and it reads:
Eurosport: UEFA Europa League
AZ 0-[1] Schalke, GOAL - Recio ‘85 … not exactly what I was hoping for but, it will be a challenge if they lose the next game… anyways back to the game. Mkrtchyan is at the halfway line, switches the ball to the left flank to Gabriel who is not far from the box. He crosses a low cross and it skips past the defender to McCleary and he skips past the goalkeeper and
SHOOTS INTO AN EMPTY NET, CAN HE MISS? NO, GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! GOAL! FIVE! WE HAVE SCORED 5 GOALS!’
‘93 minutes… the referee blows the whistle!
5-0, we have played the best game in our history. A 5-0 destroying of Stuttgart at Home, in front of 14,935 fans. What a day, what a game. “Pyuuuunik! Pyuuuunik! Pyuuuunik! Pyuuuunik!” chants the fans, as they are very proud of this team!’
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- 
Ovidy Karuru (‘48), Archford Gutu (‘52)
3-0
Keep it up!
