The EMF Champions League found its new champions tonight: Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI. The Montenegrin team first beat MAV Glissando in the semi finals, then ECOS in the final to be worthy of lifting the EMF Champions League trophy into the air at the end of this year’s tournament.
Semi finals
In the semi finals Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI played MAV Glissando. Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI reached the semi finals with five wins and only one draw on their accounts, while MAV Glissando won only three of their matches in regular time since the start of the tournament.
Still it came as a surprise when Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI opened the scoring in the first half with Ionut Andrei Nemitanu’s goal. MAV Glissando pressed hard for a leveller, but the Montenegrin team held up until the final whistle. The result stayed 1:0, meaning Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI went to the final.
On the pitch Juventus Sibiu faced ECOS. The odds were clearly on the Romanian team’s side, so ECOS caused quite a surprise by scoring the first goal of the game. Marin Jukić’s goal in the 13th minute forced Juventus Sibiu to switch to a faster and more offensive game play.
They were looking dangerous every time the Romanian team got the ball, but failed to turn possession into shooting opportunities or goals. ECOS responded excellently to the pressure and started to focus on counterattacks. Despite the frequent attacks on both side, none of the teams managed to capitalise on the opportunities, the result stayed 1:0 until the end of the game. ECOS qualified for the final, while the two Romanian teams were going to play for the third place.
Plate final
The two Romanian teams, Juventus Sibiu and MAV Glissando, both had to quickly lick their wounds after their respective bitter semi-final defeats and get back on track to fight for the bronze medal.
Juventus’ Tanase Gabriel scored the first goal of the match from near the corner after getting a perfect pass from a free-kick. MAV Glissando didn’t give up so easily. As threatened, Razvan-Alexandru Plopeanu struck with a quick equaliser. The tie was barely a minute old when MAV Glissando’s Daniel Gabara found the back of the net again, making it 2:1.
In the second half Ciurea Adrian dribbled brilliantly through three MAX Glissando players to send a low drive into the goal, and to level the game up, 2:2. The rain started to pour down heavily on the teams with about 10 minutes left from the match. None of the teams managed to convert their rare opportunities into goals, the match went into a penalty shootout, which was won by MAV Glissando 2:0.
The final
Last year Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI finished their journey at the EMF Champions League between the last 16, while ECOS were beaten by finalists Aramis Mad Dogs in the quarter finals.
This year Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI quickly opened the scoring of the final in the 5th minute, but the audience didn’t have to wait long for ECOS’s answer. The result was already 1:1 by the 11th minute. For the rest of the first-half the teams were moving forward slowly, trying carefully not to lose the ball to the other team. Under the pressure both teams made frequent, visible mistakes on the pitch. Even though ECOS showed more initiative and had more chances in front of the goal during the first 20 minutes, yet they failed to convert.
ECOS clearly took control of the game in the second half and had several shots on goal, but rarely really dangerous. The last chance to decide the final in regular time was a free-kick awarded to ECOS just from outside the box, but the shot only hit the bar hard. This year’s final went to a penalty shootout as well.
After a marathon session of penalties with several misses on both sides and saves from the goalkeepers, Dadi/Eurozox NO-MI became the new EMF Champions by winning the shootout 12:11.