Sliema Wanderers 1
Ohawuchi 62;
Khazar Lankaran 1
Franca 13;
Khazar Lankaran were widely expected to pose a stern test to Sliema Wanderers, something which led Alfonso Greco to ask for a dynamic effort from his players, yesterday. And the Italian coach’s words were heeded as the Wan-derers earned the plaudits with a tenacious display.
Khazar may not be one of Europe’s footballing superpowers but with their financial muscle they succeeded in enticing the likes of former Real Madrid coach John Toshack to their fold.
Yet, there was nothing on show yesterday to vindicate their tag of ‘Caucasian Chelsea’ as Sliema not only left the qualification wide open but matched their opponents and engineered some devastating counter-attacking moves which could have further embarrassed the pretentious visitors.
A sprightly start by Khazar earned them an early goal but the Azeri side began to fade towards the end of the first half and their struggles to cope with the stifling heat at the Cen-tenary Stadium raised hopes of a positive result by the local team in this Europa League first qualifying round, first leg.
With Khazar failing to maintain their early momentum, Sliema came more into the picture and equalised around the hour mark.
Neither side was capable of producing a late flourish though as Sliema easily coped with their opponents’ late rally which was mostly spearheaded by substitute Adrian Pit.
With Andrea Navarra unavailable and no other new players at his disposal, Greco’s starting line-up had a familiar look that featured all the prominent members of last year’s campaign, namely foreign quartet Stefano Bianciardi, Pal-temio Barbetti, Matias Muchardi and Stanley Ohawuchi. Trevor Cilia returned to the Sliema fold after a loan spell at Floriana.
Greco favoured a 4-1-4-1 formation that had Barbetti taking up screening duties in front of the Sliema defence.
Nigerian Ohawuchi was the target man up front as the roaming Muchardi was given instructions to link midfield with attack.
Toshack opted for an enterprising 4-3-2-1 approach and the Wanderers’ hopes of a positive result suffered a blow on 13 minutes when Khazar broke the deadlock.
Sadio Tounkara’s cross reached the unmarked Nildo Franca Junior who slid the ball past the Sliema keeper with relative ease.
Shocked by Khazar’s sizzling start, Sliema could not bring fluency to their game but on the half hour they went close to an equaliser when Barbetti’s free-kick curled dangerously in the opponents’ box but Bianciardi failed to get a decent touch to the ball.
On 37 minutes, some unorthodox Sliema defending allowed Toun-kara to barge his way on the right flank, Vanderson Scarduelli beat his marker to break free in front of Glenn Zammit but the goalkeeper did well to repel the advances of the Lankaran player.
Four minutes into the second half, Toshack replaced the hobbling Franco Junior with Nicola Gligorov.
Greco was clearly intent on making the most of the versatile qualities of his players so he replaced Cilia with Ariel Laudisi.
The Wanderers shifted to attack mode and from one prolonged foray, they had a penalty shout turned down when Radomir Todorov tackled Ohawuchi to end his venture in the box.
But the Nigerian striker was not to be denied and two minutes later he caught the Lankaran defence napping as he dashed past his marker before beating goalkeeper Antonio Doblas with a deft touch to the ball to make it one-all.
Toshack’s men were clearly finding it hard to impose themselves in scorching temperatures and took 30 second-half minutes to create their first noteworthy chance after the break.
Zoahir Benuahi found himself in ample space down the left wing but his swerving effort flashed inside the side-netting.
Then, eight minutes from time, Khazar were down to 10 men after Elnur Allahverdiyev was expelled for a second booking.
The Wanderers upped their efforts as they sought to make their numerical advantage count but, instead, Khazar’s renewed com-mitment and growing sense of urgency earned them a sequence of ideal goal-scoring chances mainly created by Pit.
Just before the final whistle, the Romanian whipped in a free-kick from the left but Alvaro Silva’s header finished just wide.
As Lankaran failed to capitalise, the hosts stayed firm to emerge unhurt and stay in contention ahead of next week’s second leg in eastern Europe.
Sliema Wanderers
G. Zammit, B. Muscat (90 B. Timotic), C. Gatt Baldacchino, S. Bianciardi, A. Muscat, P. Barbetti, M. Muchardi, M. Scerri, S. Ohawuchi, J. Mintoff (83 L. Martinelli), T. Cilia (52 A. Laudisi).
Khazar Lankaran
A. Doblas, V. Scarduelli (60 A. Pit), Alvaro Silva, E. Allahverdiyev, S. Tounkara, E. Abdullayev, Z. Benuahi, R. Todorov, A. Scarlatache, M. Orsulic (66 R. Ramaldanov), N. Franca (49 Gligorov).
Referee: Eiko Saar (Estonia FA).
Yellow cards: Allahverdiyev; Orsulic; B. Muscat; Alvaro; Scerri; Ohawuchi; Barbetti.
Red card: Allahverdiyev (KL) 82.