May 1, 2008
by: Travis Mills
0 Mins – Chris Katongo is starting up front as a striker for Brondby IF, as they are set to face Esbjerg in the final of the Danish Cup.
*GOAL*Brondby* 1-0
15 Mins – Brondby open the scoring on a free header near the penalty spot by S. Holmen. Katongo was behind Holmen and poised to finish the play if his counterpart was not up to the task.
24 Mins – Katongo sends a low ball into the top of the box, but is just behind two of his teammates, and cleared by the defender.
33 Mins – a long ball played into EFB territory is knocked down by Chris, but he can’t control it and losses out to the defender. The Esbjerg counterattack almost produces a goal.
37 Mins - numerous passes in the midfield have finally found the foot of Katongo, he sends a through ball towards the box, but just too far for his teammate and the danger is cleared.
42 Mins – Katongo receives a ball on the edge of the box, makes a move to shake the defender, but his tight angle shot from 11 yards away goes wide.
45 Mins – After two minutes of stoppage time, the half-time whistle is blown.
Half-time: Brondby 1-0 Esbjerg
48 Mins – Katongo is unable to latch onto a bouncing ball at the top of the box after a half volley pass from his teammate.
54 Mins – In an effort to win the ball from the defender in the attacking zone, Katongo commits a foul. He was hard pressed to win the ball with two opposing players in the area.
60 Mins – Brondby is working down the left sideline, Katongo is involved, dropping back to help his midfielders, and sends down a light through ball. The ball ultimately goes out of bounds, and the cross from the ensuing throw-in is ruled off-side.
*GOAL*Esbjerg* 1-1
61 Mins – The charging Esbjerg attack is rewarded after pushing forward for the majority of the recent play, finally a nifty 1-2 passing play sees Soren Rieks one on one with the goalkeeper. His inital attempt at a chip, over the charging goalkeeper is knocked down, but right back into his feet. Rinks makes no mistake with an open net from 10 meters away to draw level.
68 Mins – A searching ball is run onto by Katongo near the byline on the left side. He lays it back to his midfielder, who centers the ball to a teammate that shoots it wide from the top of the box. The ball took a deflection and Brondby have won a corner.
*GOAL*Brondby* 2-1
69 Mins – The in-swinging corner from the left side finds its way to the near post, 6 yards out. The ball is headed down by von Schleebrugge, who rises the highest, and over a helpless goalkeeper into the back of the net.
74 Mins - Katongo takes the ball down the left side, and makes the pass to the overlapping run to his teammate, the ball is sent into the box, but Brondby are unable to get a shot off.
75 Mins – A long ball to Katongo is ruled offside.
*GOAL*Esbjerg*2-2
79 Mins – A leftwing cross to the far post is volleyed right before the byline, across the face of goal to the other post. The stretching Brondby goalkeeper is unable to get a hand to it, and Soren Rieks is on the spot to deflect it home with an outstretched foot. This is Rieks second goal of the match, to go along with a 50th minutes yellow card.
*GOAL*Brondby* 3-2
84 Mins – Brondby are on the attack again, Katongo‘s overlapping pass is given back to him on the right-side of the box, he crosses it over and is side volleyed by Martin Retov from the penalty spot area, a rocket shot into the back of the net.
87 Mins – Katongo is substituted off for a defensive replacement.
90 Mins – There will be 5 Minutes of stoppage time added on.
The Final Whistle: Brondby 3-2 Esbjerg
Brondby win their sixth Danish Cup, now tied for second most in Denmark. Chris Katongo wins his first silverware since 2005, when the Jomo Cosmos were the Coca-Cola Cup Winners.
As Brondby are given the cup to raise, the champagne bottles make their way onto the presentation stage. The players all pop the caps off the bottles and take turns drinking champagne from the trophy, then the team is all given t-shirts and scarves to wear in the celebratory team photo at the center of the field. After the photo, Katongo leads the way in taking the trophy over the Brondby fan section, to acknowledge their notoriously fantastic support.
Match Recap -
Brondby continue their strong play with Katongo in the lineup and refused to quit, battling out a roller coaster of a second half to claim victory. At his usual lone-striker position, Katongo moved around all over the attacking zone, dropping back to aide his midfield at times, while stretching the defense through multiple runs down the wing and successful long balls. His persistence all over the field paid off, although he was held off the scoring sheet, he set up the winning goal. As the old team-oriented saying goes, “an assist is just as good as a goal”.
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