Adecco MVP BEFC vs Panthers - Kentaro Takahashi

  • Adecco BEFC Most Valuable Player vs Panthers - Kentaro Takahashi

BEFC expected their return match against last season's number 3 team Panthers to be an intense one. At the start of the current season they witnessed a hammering at BEFC's hand, and with Panther's known for being very different depending on who they get to show up, BEFC expected them to bring out the big guns for revenge. Revenge Panthers got, but in an ultimately crazy and cruel match for BEFC to lose.
Things started badly for BEFC who perhaps used to the ease they defended against Zion FC the matchbefore,did not adjust to the increased pace of top division 1 sides as Panthers manage to go through twice in the opening 10 minutes on counter attacks to put BEFC down 0 - 2. However BEFC always felt like the scoring could be going the other way, and keeping their cool, pulled back two goals in an equal 10 minutes of response! BEFC's defence settled down and as a team they got back into the form that shut down Pumas so well but balancing it well to keep the attacking pressure on Panthers. The half ended at 3 - 2 to BEFC with BEFC the better team and Panthers deciding to try and referee the match themselves with the amount of moaning and yelling at the official.

The second half BEFC felt themselves the better side, and up until then their defence had been comfortably keeping Panthers at bay as well as causing the Panthers own defence plenty of problems. However in a series of notable moments the match fortunes shifted. Firstly the Panthers captain somehow managed to stay on the pitch after first accusing BEFC's linesman of being a cheat and then swearing to his face. Getting nothing from his ranting, on the next ball he went on a charge down the pitch only to lose the ball to a bad touch and then lunge, studs up to cripple BEFC's Kentaro Ogawa by jamming them at full stretch right into Ogawa's ankle. BEFC lost Ogawa to a serious injury and somehow the Panther's player still remained on the pitch when everyone saw this about to happen the entireity of his red-misted run and previewed by his foul mouth tirade a minute before.

BEFC were unable to kill the game with what Sakk later admitted might have been his worse miss ever, as a close range header hit the underside of the crossbar and then bounced out. Witvliet crossed the ball over the line with what should have been a header, except for whatever freak physiological reason he was unable to get his hand out of it's position so instead of a goal deflected it in with his hand and earned a yellow card! Then in a great counter attack Takahashi went passed Panther's captain (already on a yellow), who pulled him back in the box. As a true sportsman Takahashi stayed on his feet when he could have gone down but it was enough to cause him to shank the shot agonisingly wide. Amazingly the Panther's player was not booked, remained on the pitch and nor was their a penalty given for an obvious foul in the penalty box as last man!

All that drama and freak misfortune was enough to rally the Panther's into believing it was their day and they turned up the intensity. This is where the difference in D1 fitness began to show, and Panther's bouyed by having ridden the luck so far began to work great passing moves believing they could recover, and after managing a deep cross to the back post the levelled with a very sweet strike from the other side of the BEFC box. The momentum was with Panther's now who started finding space in and around the field and noticeable in BEFC's penalty area. After some last ditch defending, some penalty appeals and their striker admitting he did an 'Italian' job when denied a penalty decision, managed in the final moments to weave a fire from inside the box to give Panther's the lead.
In the final seconds a sweet hoisted ball into the Panther's penalty area from Pounder was unable to connect with a charging Takahashi and Palmer who both strained to get the lightest of touches as they challenged the keeper. But it was not enough to win the ball fully in another moment of high drama, consigning BEFC to a very cruel defeat, albeit against a very good side whoose superior energy in the final quarter of the match came through.

One player full of energy though was Kentaro Takahashi, who not only netted two goals but was part of plenty of great attacking build up play with his front three. Added to that Takahashi who is not normally known for Harry Kane like defensive shifts, decided it was time to get to that next level, and was working extra to come back and a number of times rob a Panther's midfielder of the ball in the middle of the park. In fact at one point Takahashi recovered the ball right in from of the back three, before holding it up and passing it back to the centerbacks. Just when a defender gets forward to push the attack, it's even more appreciated when the strikers pop up and help foil attacks. Another point for Takahashi (and one of discussion) was his honesty of a true sportman and footballer to try and stay on his feet when clearly fouled in the penalty area.
One of BEFC's key club values is Sportsmanship, and while he could have gone down he did the samurai thing and stayed up. Unlike the opposition who admitted openly they dived to try and win a penalty Takahashi had honour and respect to uphold.

For great play, two goals, huge work effort in both attack and defence and upholding his samurai and BEFC honour Kentaro Takahashi is the Adecco BEFC Man of the Match vs Panthers.

This was a truly crazy match and despite how it felt individually, everyone felt all players had a solid game. The bizarre moments we had are rare and don't all normally happen at key moments. We could have won it, we didn't. Panther's in the later part of the second half had the energy and played some great attacking football. We've seen this happen over the last few games against top D1 teams where we don't yet have that D1 level of fitness and timing of our energy at this level. But it we will. It felt cruel, it was. Panthers are a good team, they played well... but I think we are right to feel some things just didn't go our way and on a different day it would have been very different by the 60th minute.