Aston Villa to meet Fiorentina in DLJdirect Gotham Cup Final

SECAUCUS, NJ – (Friday, July 23, 1999) – The first round is complete and the finalists have been determined, and English Premier League giants Aston Villa will meet Fiorentina of Italy in theChampionship Match of the inaugural DLJdirect Gotham Cup at Giants Stadium.

Aston Villa held on against Dutch League team Ajax of Amsterdam, escaping with a penalty kickvictory after an exciting, end-to-end match that ended tied 2-2 after 90 minutes.

Julian Joachim gave Villa an early lead, in the 13th minute, when he converted the rebound of Dion Dublin’s powerful header. Dublin’s shot beat the Dutch ‘keeper, but slammed off the crossbar and fell at the feet of Joachim.

Villa extended its lead in the 29th minute, and again it was Dublin and Joachim who combined forthe score. Joachim accepted a long pass from midfield and drew the goalkeeper and defense before sliding the ball across to Dublin, who calmly left-footed the ball home from close range.

Ajax pulled closer before the interval on Nikos Machlas’ goal, set up by a cross from Danish International Brian Laudrup, and added the tying goal by Wamberto goal six minutes from the end, but came up short in the penalty kick tie-breaker.

Steve Stone, Mark Draper and Alan Wright converted penalties for the Birmingham, England, side, with Shota Arveladze and Tim De Cler scoring for Ajax.

Italy’s Fiorentina withstood the challenge of Panathinaikos in the evening’s second game, powered by unassisted goals from Abel Balbo and Enrico Chiesa, and a late strike from Luis Olivera.

Balbo took advantage of a poor clearance attempt by Panathinaikos defender Ioannis Goumas and scored the game’s first goal in the 31st minute, placing the ball past the ‘keeper after intercepting the ball at the corner of the 18-yard box.

Enrico Chiesa accepted Sandro Cois’ long pass and raced down the wing before firing a shot from the edge of the penalty area. Panathinaikos netminder Antonis Nikopolidis made the initial save, but the ball fell to Chiesa’s feet and Fiorentina’s recent acquisition made no mistake with his second shot.

Luis Olivera added an insurance goal in the 80th minute to put the game out of reach. Argentine International Gabriel Batistuta worked the ball to the endline and picked out Olivera, who caught Nikopolidis leaning the wrong way and tapped the ball into the net.

The opening round results set up a final between teams from two of the best leagues in the world,the English Premier League and Italy’s Serie A, at Giants Stadium on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. The third place game will be contested between Ajax and Panathinaikos at 4:00 p.m.

Aston Villa vs. Ajax Scoring

Aston Villa 13’ Julian Joachim

Aston Villa 29’ Dion Dublin

Ajax 39’ Nikos Machlas

Ajax 84’ Wamberto

Penalty Kicks:

Aston Villa - Southgate – Saved; Stone – Goal; Barry – Crossbar; Draper – Goal; Wright – Goal

Ajax - Van Halst – Saved, Reuser – Saved; Arveladze – Goal; De Cler – Goal; Witschge – Crossbar

Fiorentina vs. Panathinaikos Scoring

Fiorentina 31’ Abel Balbo

Fiorentina 51’ Enrico Chiesa

Fiorentina 80’ Luis Olivera

For More info Go to: Metrotix    or     LJ GothamCup               Fiorentina Wins! - Details

^{Courtesy MLSNET}
 

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