AWADA FRUSTRATED WITH FIRST HALF PERFORMANCE
29 / 05 / 2016
Dinamo Riga 
Manager Mo Awada was left frustrated yesterday the 3-2 defeat at the hands of Dinamo Riga
Date published: 29/05/2016 -16:22
Riga United FC 2-3 Dinamo Riga
Pakalns 75'
Pfeifer 83' pen
Riga United thus far this season had been unbeaten at
home and United, coming off a close game on Monday were looking to
get back to winning ways. Dinamo Riga had other ideas, the
team which appears to be the ‘stone in the shoe’ of Riga United,
again spoilt the party and beat United 3-2 with two first half
goals.
United took till the 75th minute to find the net, when substitute
Jānis Pakalns found the net with a wonderous strike. It was 8
minutes later when they got their second with an 83rd minute
penalty from Peter Pfeifer, ensuring a tense finish to the end.
Dinamo Riga got off to a flyer when in the 2nd minute of the game,
stunning United as the first corner of the game was put away.
United were very slow to come out the blocks in the first half.
There didn’t seem to be any sense of urgency to their
game.
United couldn’t seem to get into their game and unable to play the
quick two-touch passing that has served them well so far this
season. Instead choosing to make the difficult pass and more
often than not paying off.
The second half, with no doubt United manager’s words ringing in
their ears, came out and took it into 2nd gear as the passing was
much improved and they look to be moving the ball better.
Into the second part of the half, in a frenetic 10 minutes, 4 goals
were scored. It started with Dinamo in the 73rd minute as a player
was able to cut in from the right side to the middle and slot it
low into the bottom right side of the goal. Substitute Jānis
Pakalns, who made a great contribution to the second half, got his
reward 2 minutes later. Three minutes later, it was again the turn
of Dinamo to create a two goal cushion as they were awarded a
penalty to make it 3-1. Then finally in the 83rd minute,
United were back in it again with a penalty from Peter Pfeifer, to
bring it back to 2-3.
For the last 5 minutes, United pushed everyone forward in search of
an equaliser but the Dinamo goalie was up to the task and made some
excellent saves. That despite Dinamo going down to 10 men for
the last three minutes as a player received his second yellow. So
the final whistle blew and it was Dinamo who celebrated.
This match was marred by some of the incidences, which is
increasingly a concern for United. That is the referee not
responding to some very dubious challenges which could eventually
lead to something more serious, this being for the 3rd game
running.
Speaking after the game, Mo Awada as clearly frustrated with the
team but took nothing away from Dinamo’s effort in the game, “We
started the game very slow, almost asleep, we conceded from a
corner within the first 2mins, it was a very poor goal to give
away. The 1st half was the poorest half we've had so far, we just
didn't get going...no tempo, no closing down I was very frustrated.
We had some harsh words at home time, changed the system slightly
and the second half was much better. Their goalkeeper won them the
game making 3 world class saves.
Janis [Pakalns] made a huge different coming on, fighting for every ball and scored a wonder goal.
The poor 1st half cost us the game...I'm really frustrated but I hope the players now understand what we need to do and how we should play.
Fair play to Dinamo, they handled the heat better than us and were more up for the fight.”