Juffing Knocks Stuffing out of French

A Johan Juffing brace helped Totaalvoetbal to a comfortable away success against Marseille in Round 15 of the RM Invitational.

After allowing Marseille to push forward in the opening few minutes, Totaalvoetbal then produced a dazzling breakaway move which finished when Ike Dyer lobbed Dion Rossell after being slipped in by Shirsh Vajpayee.

An injury to Sid Peyton didn’t help the home side’s cause and they could have suffered further pain but for an ill-directed Horacio Metelo free-kick. The let-off didn’t last for long, though, as after Herbert Stigsson had released Juffing, the midfielder followed Dyer’s example by lifting the ball over the ‘keeper for 2-0.

This goal seemed to spark Marseille into life and, from a free-kick in a dangerous area, Jonathan Boulding got in a half-volley which forced the recalled Rob Keizer into a superb stop. Cal Beardsley then missed a further opportunity for the hosts by ballooning his chipped effort well over the bar.

Totaal managed to regain some sort of control but couldn’t add to their lead before half-time as Metelo, again, wasted a free-kick effort.

Marseille were to have the first chance after the interval as they continued to find a way through the visiting defence. A curled shot by Dudley Bennington wasn’t accurate enough although did cause a reaction from Meeblind on the bench as he urged his players into a more concentrated effort. This seemed to be taken on board by the team and, following a fine run and cross from Pierre van Diemen, Juffing planted a header past Rossell.

Despite being 3-0 down the home side kept plugging away. Jonathan Boulding narrowly missed after poking a ball through Keizer’s legs but Andy Hardy had better luck after they were awarded a penalty. Confidently striding up, he thumped the ball in to show some defiance against the reigning champions.

That was all it proved to be, though, as Juffing went close once more and Dyer had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside as the visitors finished well on top.

"A good performance." began Meeblind post-match.

"We have managed to get Ike and Richie Chalmers some more experience and still picked up the three points. We are navigating our way through the season very positively. I’m a happy man.”