Tomas Soucek’s late strike at Backa Topola takes West Ham through
Late in the game, Tomas Soucek once again scored a goal that led West Ham to the next round of the Europa League. It was a boring match against Backa Topola from Serbia, but the team was able to secure their victory.
The player from the Czech Republic has managed to score in his past five games for both his club and national team. He was able to secure a 1-0 victory with an 89th-minute volley, but the team will need to win their next match against Freiburg at the London Stadium in two weeks time in order to come out on top of their group. This will help them avoid having to participate in a playoff series in February.
Approximately 320 tough West Ham supporters travelled a distance of 2,000 miles to the Balkans, which involved a 100-mile drive on the motorway from Belgrade to the TSC Arena.
A lot of the fans were hoping to see 19-year-old Divin Mubama make his first start of the season since forwards Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio were injured. However, Mubama didn't get many chances to move the ball as West Ham had a hard time getting motivated in the quiet Serbian city. The opposing team had just won a 4-0 match against league leaders Partizan and were feeling good going into the game. They began strong with Uros Milovanovic nearly scoring, but West Ham's goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski made the save.
During the match, Aaron Cresswell committed an error which led to him being given an unusual opportunity in the lineup as one of seven changes made from the team that secured a last-minute victory against Burnley with Soucek's goal. This mistake allowed Aleksandar Cirkovic to have a chance to shoot, but Fabianski managed to save the shot.
It took West Ham thirty minutes to finally get a shot on target, but unfortunately, it wasn't very strong. Saïd Benrahma, who was celebrating his 150th appearance with the club, made the attempt, but Veljko Ilic had no trouble dealing with it.
The first half of the game was dull and unimpressive, as described by Joe Cole on TNT Sports using the words "dross" and "appalling". In an effort to bring some energy to the team, David Moyes substituted Benrahma and Mubama with Danny Ings and the rarely seen Maxwel Cornet around the 60-minute mark. It wasn't until stoppage time that Cornet made a left-side cross which Soucek expertly volleyed in to secure the victory.
Over the last three seasons, West Ham has had an exciting campaign in Europe, culminating in their noteworthy victory in the Europa Conference League final in Prague. Despite this victory not being particularly memorable, it marked their 18th win out of 20 matches in Europe, and Moyes and his team accomplished their goal.
