28.07.2018 19:30

The very last match of Group B saw Academia Sport take on Everton. While the English could simply walk away with a tie to preserve their 3rd place, the Romanians needed a win to move on up from the 4th. Perhaps more important for both, though, was to find at least one win in the tournament so as to return home with a modicum of satisfaction.

The first half offered a lot of spectacle for the viewers thanks to Everton, who managed to create many chances. The goal scored by Everton’s #19, Max Thompson, after merely three minutes thanks to Pedro Neves’s cross, was just the first indication that the English would dominate the match. At the 28th minute they scored another goal, after Rhys Hughes placed a nice cross into the middle of the box where Thompson found a winning header for his second goal of the match.

The second half was basically a repeat of the first. In other words, the game remained one-sided, with Everton pretty much the only team on the pitch. It took the English no more than five minutes to double their score after a beautiful run by Neves saw him jump two Academia players and then serve a great through ball to Kieran Phillips who, face-to-face with the keeper, netted the ball in the far right-hand corner. At the 53rd minute, Phillips attempted an impressive bicycle kick from within the box, but his shot ended up over the crossbar. Two minutes later Jonathan Anderson let off a great shot from outside the box, but the keeper nicked it out for a corner kick. The game pretty much continued on the same note, and the final goal was scored by Michael Collins, Everton’s number 6.

In the end, Everton did get a win, though they fell rather short when compared to last year’s performance. As for the Romanians, they definitely returned to the tournament having improved quite a bit from their last time, though they once again walked away without a win.