Matanovic at the double | OneFootball

Eintracht took their chances before and after the break, bidding farewell to Kentucky with a 4-0 (1-0) win over LouCity.

The floodgates opened literally and metaphorically midway through Tuesday night. After an opening period where Louisville City had the upper hand, the Eagles came out after the rain-affected extended half-time break and swung the match in their favour.

Three Eagles missing

Eintracht, in week three of their pre-season preparation, were without Robin Koch and Hugo Larsson due to illness, while Éric Junior Dina Ebimbe was being managed. They took their time getting into the game, played out in front of a crowd of 10,218 at the Lynn Family Stadium, and the ‘Purple Boys’, as the home team are known, were only kept off the scoresheet by an alert Kevin Trapp, who made a sharp double-save in the seventh minute.

The match then settled down, with Eintracht stating to hit their straps around the half-hour mark. Niels Nkounkou had a shot off-target (27’) before haring down the left wing, only for Hugo Ekitiké to fail to put away the ensuing cross (29’).

Shortly after the first drinks break, Ekitiké came close with a header (34’), but he was to make no mistake towards the end of the half when Eintracht kept their cool and passed the ball around patiently before Willian Pacho fed the No.11 with an inch-perfect pass, which the striker tucked into the far corner to make it 1-0 (42’).

The second half began at about the time it should have been finishing after an extended rain delay, but the Eagles came flying out of the blocks, having made seven changes. Nathaniel Brown overlapped with Omar Marmoush down the left and forced a corner, which Chaibi sent over to Ellyes Skhiri, who stabbed it home to double the lead (48’). Two minutes later, a long ball from Nene Brown found Chaibi, whose deep cross was headed home emphatically by Igor Matanovic (50’).

The US second-tier side sent men forward to reduce the deficit and get what would have been a well-deserved consolation goal, but at the other end, Matanovic kept a cool head in the box and fired home, despite the attentions of plenty of Louisville defenders, to make the final scoreline 4-0 (78’).