LACKLUSTER UNITED CONCEDE SEVEN
13 / 08 / 2016
Amoko/02 
A woeful performance from Riga United on Thursday night saw them lose 7-0.
Date published: 13/08/2016 - 12:54
Riga United FC 0-7 Amoko/02
This will be a moment Riga United FC want to forget quickly. On Thursday night, the players and fans witnessed the worst performance of the season when they lost 7-0 to Amoko at home. It has to go down as the worst defeat since the Caramba 13-2 loss last year.
From the back to the front, players were too careless
with the ball. They didn’t track back and didn’t put any pressure
on the opposition. Though, credit shouldn’t be taken away from
Amoko/02, they played well, looked aggressive and attacked from the
start.
In the first ten minutes, all of the attacks were coming from
Amoko/02. Besides one moment in the 5th minute, when Artūrs
Meisters came close to opening the scoring and his Riga United
account after a defensive mix up. That’s arguably the closest
United would get all game.
Then neither team could get into passing rhythm or possession of
the ball. All too often, the ball was won in midfield and lost in
the final third.
In the 25th the breakthrough from the game came through two poor refereeing decisions. The first one coming when a player fell over himself in the box and screamed - penalty to Amoko/02. The second followed when the penalty was taken, the referee apparently didn’t see the player stop in his run up to the ball, allowing an advantage to the player and it was 1-0 to Amoko.
The second followed three minutes later, as United still with the penalty in their minds, decided to stand off the Amoko player and he was allowed time and space to find room and make it 2-0. The third goal came in the 30th minute as Amoko/02 scored a spectacular goal from outside the side of the area, there wasn’t anyone could have done.
Clearly shocked by the horrible five minutes, the United players just seemed to look lost in the game. There wasn’t any pressure on the other team, the midfield collapsed and that in turn left no protection for the defence.
The fourth came in the 38th minute as Amoko/02 scored with a free header from a corner, which they had been threatening to do all half. A free kick was awarded shortly before halftime, which was well put away and that was 5-0.
Hoping to play for some pride and to at least get something from the game, Riga United came out looking slightly more determined. For the first 15 minutes of the second half it looked like they were working back into the game, but in the 62nd minute, Amoko/02 put pay to that. A well-struck goal made it 6-0, as the defence lost its shape and looked helplessly on.
For the rest of the second half, there was no shape from United and it was more a question of how many more were Amoko/02 going to score as they were firing at will.
The seventh and final goal came as Amoko/02 played a simple ball
over the top of the defence and it was securely made to be the last
goal of the game. The full time whistle went a couple of
minutes later to end United’s night of misery.
The players knew what they were up against and again, with squad
depth being stretched to its limits and players playing in
different positions, it was always going to be hard. That
said, the players didn’t work hard enough. There were times
when players wouldn’t even jump in the air to try and head the
ball. It was an exceptionally disappointing performance from Riga
United.