FRANKFARTER!
Europa League Semi-Final First Leg
West Ham 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 2
This great Moyes team was constructed behind closed doors. Maybe while Pub London are sucking on their prawn sandwiches, Hammers like silent stealth assassins can steal this tie from the Germans.
Tonight is as it happened just 46 years ago, but this time with the first leg played at home for West Ham, the win over Lyon still in the back of the head of most fans as the excited fans prepare for the match. Less than half of the people here will have been alive in 1976. That game was literally a lifetime ago for the others.
Odd, but I’m not feeling as excited as I was for the Sevilla last sixteen game a few weeks ago. I am perhaps more apprehensive than I was for the visit of Lyon, though. Bizarre that as a West Ham fan you often gauge the outcome of the match by the way you feel in the minutes before it starts. This is directly attributable to the many past disappointments. And if truth be told, I’m not feeling great.
Kostic, the architect behind the Germans’ win in Barcelona, is the main worry tonight, but Hammers fans are assuaged somewhat by the return of Kurt Zouma. The disappointment of failing to beat Burnley last weekend is still for now the headlight memory.
That early feeling is justified when Frankfurt take the lead after just 49 seconds. Two misdirected headers from Ben Johnson surrender possession to the opposition who thread passes through to Borré whose neat cross exposes Hammers at the back and Knauff has a free header to pump past Areola. So that’s it. A goal behind in a matter of seconds.
Hammers look shell shocked, but the fans soon recover their voices and the mood of the match establishes its even keel once more. In the fourteenth minute Fornals finds Antonio down the left channel and, shrugging off his marker, side passes to Soucek who hits an inch perfect pass into the path of Bowen who on his left foot places the ball perfectly beyond Trapp only to see the ball hit the foot of the post. Johnson’s subsequent cross is headed over by Fornals.The replay shows that Trapp has managed to make enough contact with his outstretched left foot to divert it onto the base of the post. Fine margins.
There’s not too much longer to wait, and the dead ball is the killer. Lanzini hits a far post cross from his position halfway into the German half which Zouma heads across the goal for Antonio to tuck away at the near post. One-one.
Just before half-time Frankfurt almost have a second, Knauff skipping through defenders in the box to chip the ball just wide of Areola’s left hand post. Antonio, fired by his goal, is now causing real problems for the Eintracht defence, holding the ball up, winning free kicks, and getting on the end of the many loose balls. Cresswell hits another well won free kick low to Rice, who gives Fornals the space to aim for Souček, whose header is wide… Another chance fashioned from very little.
It’s hard to see how the Frankfurt supporters are making their 3000 allocation sound like 30000. This might be the difference at the end. Noise has been a determinant over these games, and Hammers can’t afford to concede home advantage in that department.
In the second half, Hammers have a chance to take the lead when Antonio finds Souček in a yard of space but the Czech midfielder can’t generate the volleyed finish the cross promises. Worse is to come when, after a cornucopia of measured passes across and down West Ham’s left flank, Borré and Sow hit first time one-two passes to rupture the Hammers’ back line, giving Kamada a simple tap in, with Areola grounded.
So just minutes into the second half, West Ham find themselves chasing the game again. Fornals’ corners aren’t finding West Ham heads, and with a change needed, it’s Lanzini who is taken off just after the hour in the hope of Benrahma fashioning some magic. Within seconds of coming on the Algerian has won a free kick, and muscling the ball from the ensuing scramble, hits a dipping twenty five yard curling shot which pings off the corner of crossbar and post with Trapp routed to the floor. It would have been his and West Ham’s goal of the season but, again, not to be.
Then, with ten minutes to go, Frankfurt almost have a third, Kamada’s breakaway shot coming back off the post with Areola beaten. The replay indicates the excellent positioning of the German striker’s marker Dawson, whose left calf has deflected the shot onto the post, ultimately saving West Ham.
As the Frankfurt fans launch more of their impossibly concealed flares into the East London night sky, now comes the injury time moment that could have tied the first leg, justifiably I feel. Benrahma, in one of his best London Stadium nights, finds Rice in the area, and the Hammers’ captain chips the ball in to Bowen who hits an unstoppable overhead past Trapp, but onto the underside of the bar and then Tuta clears before anyone can grab the rebound. The replay shows both the injustice of the moment and the athleticism of Bowen’s effort.
Despite West Ham’s poor fortune in the game, this has been a tactical masterclass from the Germans.
Three crossbar and post moments for the Hammers are the difference between victory and defeat. This is the reason why West Ham will have to produce a performance next week to equal if not surpass their efforts in Lyon a few weeks ago, if they are not to exit the competition at the semi-final stage.
13 Alphonse Areola, 3 Aaron Cresswell, 4 Kurt Zouma, 15 Craig Dawson, 31 Ben Johnson, 41 Declan Rice (captain), 28 Tomas Souček, 8 Pablo Fornals, 9 Michail Antonio, 10 Manuel Lanzini, 20 Jarrod Bowen
Substitute: 22 Saïd Benrahma
Goalscorer: Michail Antonio
