Istanbul Escape Amsterdam With a Point
Match Report: Amsterdam vs Istanbul Matchday 4
By: Drew Peacock
Many had projected new-look Amsterdam to get off to a rapid start this season. The results thus far have not been enough to justify those claims of yet. An opening day loss to rival club AD Lisboa, conceding an equalizer in added time against Paris and last week's loss to Athens has the Dutch club in 14th place, with just one point from a possible nine. Their opponents in matchday four were promoted side FC Istanbul. The Turkish club entered the matchday, surprisingly, in seventh; they've accumulated five points from their draws to Deportivo Madrid and Athens Kerberos and a win against fellow promoted club KS Warsaw. Amsterdam's "full-court press" style was on display straight from the kick off. This style allowed them to initiate an innumerable amount of challenges and 18 interceptions. However, this style has left them exposed on multiple occasions this season and the first chance of this match fell to the visitors. A failed off-side trap allowed Istanbul's striker Johan Rahimi to get one-on-one with Oscar Vert, but the striker slipped and put his shot wide. Amsterdam have to be kicking themselves after this performance. Their sloppy, rushed passing and poor finishing kept Istanbul in the match. A great scoring chance came via a corner as Arlo Jones' headed effort was stopped by former Amsterdam player Brodie Williamson in the 34th minute. Moments later, Will O'Neill's diving header beat the keeper, but went wide of the goal. Winger Travis Bickle missed an open net after rebounding a shot in the 42nd minute. At half-time the score remained 0-0. Amsterdam came out of the tunnel looking to get all three points from this match. In the 77th minute, O'Neill would get another chance at beating Williamson, but again he was wide of the target despite the fantastic ball into the box from Jack David. O'Neill found himself a third scoring chance in this match, in the 82nd minute, coming again from Jack David, but Williamson denied him. Despite putting in what felt like a strong enough performance to win, Amsterdam would have to settle for Tulips, One Point in this match. The early chance from Rahimi would be the only chance Istanbul would have this match as Amsterdam committed much more to their attack. Istanbul's approach may have been overly conservative, allowing Amsterdam to have a bulk of the possession in their half of the pitch. Their keeper, Williamson, put on a fantastic display, making three saves and took home man-of-the-match honors.
