Esportivo on the charge

Esportivo Rio, unbeaten since the opening day of the 2023/24 Global Premier Football League season, beat Olympia Munchen in a Christmas cracker at the Maracana, and now sit only two points off top spot, held by South American rivals, Union Buenos Aires. London City FC slipped to second after a fourth draw of the season, while across the league it was a good day for the home sides. Only Emirates United won on the road.

ROUND 10 ROUND-UP

Esportivo’s march continued at home against Munchen in another watchable encounter. The teams traded goals during the first half as the hosts took the lead then found an equaliser not long before the break. Either side could have won it during the second half as the woodwork was hit at both ends, but Rio were indebted to an unlikely hero – their 90th minute winner being headed home by centre-half, Norberto Vaz de Fonseca.

Union had a familiar hero in Rico Cocci as they eased past Ciudad de Madrid. Cocci netted a perfect hat trick (left foot, right foot, head) inside an hour, and was also booked again, as the Argentinian’s surged back to the top of the table. Ranieri Lettiere‘s late strike for Madrid was his tenth of the season.

London City looked to be heading to their first defeat of the season, at Tokyo-Yokohama United, but were relieved to see Joseph Texier‘s long range speculator arrow home with five minutes remaining. The hosts secured a deserved half time lead, through Alessandro da Siqueira, and seemed comfortable for most of the second half, but after Texier’s strike City pounded the home goal and could have taken all three points.

LA Icons and Paris Metro both picked up important, necessary, and comfortable, wins to stay in the top six.

LA had saw their front two both hit the target within minutes of each other, either side of half time, to secure West Coast bragging rights against New York Capitals…for the time being. Metro were three up, and flying, at half time against Harbour City, then chose to manage their performance through the second 45 minutes, mindful this was the first of five games in fifteen days. Antenor Nakamura‘s improvised strike will be a contender for goal of the season.

Emirates United’s recent fine run of results continued following a victory at Toronto Athletic that consigned their hosts to the bottom spot on the table. Guilherme de Freitas‘ double was enough to move United into eleventh.

Johannesburg Rush hauled themselves off the bottom of the table with their second three point haul of the season. Goals near the start and end of their match with Marina Bay Flyers got the job done, with Artur Santana‘s 88th minute tap in easing the pressure on head coach, Luuk Lindenhovius.

Possibly the upset of the round came in Hong Kong, as Mark Evans‘ goal on the half hour mark gave the Traders three much needed points against an out of sorts Eternal Roma side that ended the match with ten men.

Constantinople FC and Shanghai Pearl took differing paths to register identical score lines.

Shanghai went behind to an own goal midway through the first half against CF Azteca, but recovered during the quarter hour after the break through Albert-Jan Stroek and Diogo Esteves. In Istanbul, all the goals were scored inside the opening half hour as visiting al-Qāhirah Stars found themselves two down early before halving the deficit. Aral Akkas and Erkin Okay were the stars against the Stars, with a goal each and performances to match. 

It’s a quick turnaround for all the sides with the next round of games set for the weekend. Expect the unexpected as the relentless schedule continues into mid-January.

CURRENT STANDINGS

UPCOMING FIXTURES

GPFL STAT ATTACK

AL-QAHIRAH STARS

CF AZTECA

CIUDAD DE MADRID

CONSTANTINOPLE FC

ESPORTIVO RIO

ETERNAL ROMA

HARBOUR CITY

HONG KONG TRADERS

LA ICONS

LONDON CITY FC

MARINA BAY FLYERS

NEW YORK CAPITALS

PARIS METROPOLE

SHANGHAI PEARL

TOKYO YOKOHAMA UNITED

TORONTO ATHLETIC