On a beautiful evening with amazing weather, which is hardly common place in the great city of Vancouver these days, Wanderers faced Avant Life for the 2nd time this season. The Wanderers squad arrived with fire in their eyes, and a strong sense of intent which was palpable across the pitch. Revenge was afoot!
Despite picking up 7 points out of 9 across their last 3 games, the 3-1 loss in the opening match of the season against Avant Life still lingered with a bitter aftertaste. This meant that more than ever, the boys in orange were hungry for the 3 points, and potentially an emphatic goal tally.
The match kicked off, and Wanderers did not waste any time to grab the game by the jugular. In the 9th minute, a well timed and gorgeous through ball by Amir Khorrami found Nima Hashemzadeh through on goal inside the box, leading to a confident finish by Nima in the bottom right corner.
This however, was only the beginning for Wanderers, who now smelled blood in the water. Avant held on for dear life as countless waves of attacks came their way, until the 31st minute when Sepehr Heydarian sat down a defender with a back heel flick, and followed that with a tenacious cross that went over the keeper and found Abid Salahi by the goal line. Abid managed to tap the ball into the net at some personal cost, which made him the joint top goalscorer for the team with 3 goals.
Lucca Galvani, who came on in the 27th minute, had a wonderful showing as well and was unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet. In fact as soon as he came on, he nearly scored a header from a corner with his first touch of the ball. He also hit the woodwork in the 37th minute, following a scramble in the opposition box which allowed him to fire off a volley that rattled the crossbar. Overall, a very dangerous showing from the Brazilian, and perhaps a sign of things to come.
During the half time team talk, coach Farhang re-emphesized the importance of avoiding complacency, as well as going over some tweaks to the team's pressing. The players, who were still hungry for more goals, stepped out onto the field once again for the second half.
In the 54th minute, Nima played a sweet through ball for David Palffy, who went one on one with the goalkeeper and managed to put away the chance with an emphatic left foot shot just under the crossbar. Given that this was David's first game back as an outfield player since his prolonged injury, his teammates huddled up to congratulate the star striker on his fruitful return to action.
Some cause for concern was to follow in the 64th minute, as Sepehr Heydarian went down with an unfortunate ankle injury, which could potentially mean that he will be missing the next match. Although just minutes later, Wanderers got the ball into the opposition box following a brilliant piece of team work, and after a blocked shot from David fell to Artin in the box, he did not hesitate to put the ball in the back of the net for his first goal of the season.
In the 72nd minute, David scored once again after a pass from Nima found him in a dangerous area in box. Once David received the ball, he maintained his composure and beat the opponent keeper with elegance. A brace for David on his return to top flight action, and 5 for Wanderers so far.
Following the 5 goals, the game slowed down and Avant pushed a bit more for a consolation goal. They did not manage to create many clear cut chances, until in the 90th minute, they scored directly from a free kick with the last kick of the game. The Avant player hit the ball with power and the Wanderer's wall parted to let the strike through, which meant that the ball ended up in the top right corner of the net, where Danyal, who was desperate to keep his clean sheet in the dying minutes of the game, was unable to claw it out.
Avant fans celebrated as if they had won the game, which is only testament to the incredibly dominant performance put on by the Wanderers.
It is undeniable that the boys in orange have come a long way since the first game of the season, and coach Farhang is hopeful that this trajectory will continue as the team prepares for the playoffs.
Upwards and onwards, Wanderers!
