The AAU Football Club’s March 15 friendly against LFP International ended in a 2-2 draw, leaving what was an intense and sometimes hostile match from start to finish without a victor.
This was the third game in the last four months between AAU and their opponents from Pilsen and had a heated air of building rivalry between two squads that knew each other very well. At the schools’ first matchup last semester, an AAU victory, a frequent exchange of words between both sides elicited a flurry of yellow and red cards, and a fight broke out during the follow up match in what ended up a decisive LFP win.
With both teams taking a win in their matchups a semester ago, the energy was tense all night as the squads battled hard to give their schools the head-to-head advantage, the game coming down to the wire and ultimately ending in a slightly underwhelming stalemate.
While it felt like AAU distinctly had the momentum early on, taking a 1-0 advantage on a spectacular Olympic goal from club president Goncalo Rodrigues on a corner kick, getting on the board despite numerous other promising attacks earlier in the half being thwarted. The game felt nearly even for all 90 minutes as neither team seemed willing to give an inch and each attack was fielded with just as furious a response from the other side.
Despite badly missing an early penalty shot, it didn’t take long for LFP to get back into a rhythm, soon evening the score with a goal of their own, and they would go into halftime with the 2-1 lead after converting their next attempt at a penalty.
Throughout the course of the whole match, it became difficult at points for either team to consistently build up momentum, as the piercing shrill of the whistle would become a familiar sound to everybody on the pitch that night. While the constant penalty calls often interfered with the game’s pace, the physical nature of play and frequent verbal taunts between the two sides did at times warrant the yellow and red cards that piled up by the end, even if some calls were found by both teams to be a bit picky at times.
The tension continued into the second half, as Samuel Nykl would deliver the tying score for AAU to set up a nail biting conclusion, with both sides fighting their hardest to net the deciding score. For a moment, it seemed as though LFP had managed to do just that, with a late penalty kick going in to seemingly give them the advantage. However, an encroachment violation was called on LFP, leading to a retake that sailed far over the goal to keep the score even.
While both sides came up with some dangerous looking attacks in the remaining time, the game ended with neither team being able to record that winning goal. The bad blood between the two teams persisted even after the final whistles though, a scuffle breaking out as the field was clearing that served as a rather symbolic representation of the game that had just been witnessed.
The constant physicality and persistent fouls made the game ugly at times, but it still goes down as a hard fought battle for AAU that showed determination until the very end, and the club will now look to come through with a win this Saturday against Partisan Prague FC.
