Kabylia 0 v 2 Abkhazia

(Second Half Only)
Saturday 9th June 2018
ConIFA World Football Cup 9th/10th Position Placement Game
Coles Park, Tottenham
Admission: N/A
Attendance: 120 (estimate)
Match Rating: 3

After my earlier game at Bedfont Sports, a very low key friendly between two of the weaker ConIFA members, I made my way on the long, 1 hour tube journey along the Piccadilly Line from west to north London, deciding to alight at Wood Green and catch a bus to Haringey Borough’s home ground for the second time in a  week, for the second half of this fixture, before continuing onto Enfield for the final of the competition this evening.

Perhaps surprisingly, reigning champions Abkhazia did not make it through to the quarter finals, when they could only draw against Northern Cyprus in their final group game which they needed to win. In their previous two group games, they had beaten Tibet 3-0 but then lost 0-2 to Kárpátalya. In the placement games, they beat Tamil Eelam 6-0 and then United Koreans in Japan 2-0. Kabylia finished bottom of their group, losing 0-8 to Panjab, drew 0-0 with United Koreans in Japan, and then lost 0-4 to Western Armenia, before beating Matabeleland on penalties after a 0-0 draw and then Tibet 8-1 in the placement games.

As I arrived at the ground at half time, I was immediately struck by another colourful and lively following in the main stand, with plenty of Abkhazia flags being flown, some traditional music being played which continued throughout much of the second half, while Kabylia also had some flags on display and their fans were on hand to give good vocal support. Abkhazia were leading 1-0 at the break, thanks to a 29th minute goal by Shabat Logua, but apparently there had been plenty of chances created at both ends. However, Abkhazia really controlled the second half, always looking much the likelier to score next as Kabylia struggled to mount meaningful attacks to get back in the game. Three minutes after the break, an Abkhazia forward diverted the ball from a low cross onto the post, and the ball rolled along the goal line but stayed out. And on 57 minutes, they doubled their lead when a low ball forward was helped on and struck past the keeper by Georgii Zhanaa. The best chance Kabylia had to get on the score sheet came on 76 minutes, when the keeper made a wonderful reflex save from a close range strike on goal, but in truth, Abkhazia strolled to the victory which saw them claim a ninth place finish in the final standings, with Kabylia having to settle for tenth.