Red Bull Soccer Academy yesterday beat Prominent United Football Academy of Nigeria 4-0 in a friendly international match played at Sogakope . The home team playing with self belief and attacking intent opened fire on Prominent United from the blast of the whistle in a bid to get an early goal but when Red Bull Academy did find a man in front of goal, it was generally wasted with Felix Adjei and Ayi Zeno shockingly missing some clear-cut chances. Prominent United responded swiftly but agile goalkeeper Gleku Devine marvelously saved the shot from Kelechi Obike . It set the tone for an enthralling first forty-five minutes ,with Red Bull Academy the dominant force for long periods ,troubling Prominent United with skills and pace in attack. Eight minutes into the thrilling encounter,Ayi Zeno gave Red Bull the lead.Twumasi Patrick produced a surging run,found Zuberu and his pass teed up Zeno who calmly slotted in first time with his right foot from acute angle on the edge of the goal area.
Prominent United deserved credit for carrying the game to Red Bull Academy but were wasteful when presented with opportunities coupled with awful goalkeeping from Ishaq Shuhab.
The visitors looked comfortable in possession but struggled to supply the strikers with enough ammunition.
Seven minutes after breaking the deadlock, Red Bull Academy again had their noses in front when Sulemana Zuberu scored from a goal mouth scramble. With humiliation staring them on the face ,the visitors started to put fear into their more skillful opponents with some heart breaking tackles. Tofiq Arimu, was however shown the first yellow card for launching a career threatening tackle on Black Starlets left winger Felix Adjei in the twenty third minute.
Prominent United came very close to reduce the goal deficit in the twentieth-third minute but Akeem Lawal shot from five meters from target was too feeble to beat the toast of the fans Gleku Devine.
Gleku again showed more positive side of his game when he acrobatically tipped over Aheikan Sunday¢s long range left-foot drive two minutes later. In the twenty-seventh minute, Felix Adjei saw his shot spilled by Ishaq Shuhab and the mess cleared to safety.
Ayi Zeno who kept terrorizing the defense of Prominent United made it three for the home team in the thirty-third minute when he weaved his way through the tattered defense of Prominent United to slot the ball beyond the reach of Shuhab who was throughout the game feeling jittery . With nothing to defend, Prominent United threw more men forward and admiringly started marching their host boot for boot but could not find antidote to their bane which had to do with entering the penalty area of their opponents. Twumasi Patrick who was causing real problems for Prominent United¢s rearguards shrugged off tackles in front goal and pushed the ball invitingly for his striking partners but lack of communication between Ayi Zeno and Felix Adjei and Zuberu Sulemana robbed Red Bull Academy what appeared as an obvious fourth goal in the thirty seventh minute. The game continued in an open fashion after the break and coachDaniel Heidermann of Red Bull Academy decided he needed extra cutting edge when he sacrificed Ibrahim Mohammed ,Ayi Zeno and Sulemana Zuberu for Isaac Ofori, Eric Owusu and Ishmael Oppong respectively.
Red Bull Academy dictated the exchanges and squandered two successive chances through Felix Adjei and Patrick Twumasi. Muri Mohammed was shown the yellow card in the forty-ninth minute for decent. Ten minutes into the second half substitute Isaac Oppong made it four for the Bulls.
The misery of Prominent United was heavily compounded when referee Adodo George from Aflao sent off Toriq Oremu after a second bookable offence. With time running against them, Prominent United started marking desperate incursions into the vital area of Red Bull Academy and had chance to pull a consolation but Kazeem Ishaq shot missed the far post by inches. The shrill of referee's whistle signifying the end of the game marked another moment of joy for the ¡¢Bulls¢¢ for winning convincingly its first international game.
