Fantastic scenes of joyous celebrations between fans and the squad of iLandslaget, all under the watchful sombre eyes of the manager of course, as the team all but secured their 2nd consecutive League Title with a routine 6-0 home win over Kato FC. The win saw the team, at the very least, maintain their 6 point lead over closest rivals thai-team FC who have pulled off a noteworthy achievement of their own keeping the pressure on the Swedish team for the full season. In the most pessimistic of scenarios where iLandslaget lose both their last two games and thai-team FC win both of theirs, there's still a +44-goal cushion to rely on for the Swedes.
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While having the League Title all but secured in the 24th round of the season may have been enough cause for celebration, the raucous scenes had more to do with the thrilling end to iLandslaget's unexpected, and herculean, run in the Cup. On the other side stood thermia, a greek team of some renown and, with an on paper stronger squad than any the manager of iLandslaget could field.
The manager had done his part however, reading up on the Greeks tactics and formations, and iLandslaget reverted to an old tried-and-tested line-up of 3-2-2-1-2 with wingbacks shielding the defense from thermia's marauding wingers.
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The game started in catastrophic fashion however as the Greeks took an early 2-goal lead, scoring twice through Deschamps and legendary striker Mukendi in the first 10 minutes of the game. iLandslaget struggled on however, methodic in their play and effort to break down a sturdy defense. In the 17th minute Liljehook struck one back for the Swedes breathing some much needed optimism back into the team.
A late tackle from Deschamps saw him seeing a slice of the cheddar but the following free kick came to nothing. It wasn't to be until the 43rd minute when Bouzgarruo dribbled through a tight defense and, instead of finishing himself, set up Gerailton perfectly to finish into an open goal. The Swedes had a slight advantage in possession and created the more chances but the Greeks were dangerous on the counter and dominated the corner statistics.
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In the 52nd minute iLandslaget made several much needed substitutions to be able to keep up with an energetic opponent, Gamarra replaced Gerailton, Mawene replaced Hall Tennmark and Calle replaced Rodriguez. The teams traded blows back and forth with several serious threats toward the iLandslaget goals thwarted in the last second by a stolid defense.
In the 56th minute a surge from defender Karademitros exploited a vital mistake to counter and reaching the edge of the box he set fellow defender dos Santos up perfectly, who converted the lay-up to put iLandslaget in front for the first time in the game.
Concerted pressure from thermia ended the game, but the closest they came was a vicious shot by Mukendi that hit the post in the 83rd minute. As things stood, iLandslaget managed to see the game out nervously, and with the final whistle iLandslaget fans flooded the pitch to celebrate with their heroes.
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