Serbia United come back from 3-1 deficit to remain undefeated
FC Serbia United remained unbeaten after a back-and-forth game against South Army FC that saw them leave with a 5-3 win. A hat-trick from Luka Baljak led them to a comeback after being down 3-1.
In usual Serbia United fashion, they took an early lead in the 7th minute. A group effort from Serbia United led to a string of swift passes, resulting in Vukovic finishing the play off with a strong, low-driven strike past the goalkeeper and into the bottom right of the net.
After a devastating 17-1 loss in the previous week, South Army FC were focused on making a bigger imprint on this game. They achieved exactly that when they equalized and then took a 3-1 lead within 18 minutes. The equalizer was scored by Xinhui Wang who scored a miraculous goal by clearing the ball out of his half only for Serbia United’s goalkeeper to mishandle the ball, guiding it into the net. South Army kept their attack going by taking the lead in the 12th minute. South Army disrupted United’s attack and Zi Neng Lu ran through their half to get in front of the net and power the ball into the roof of the goal. In the 17th minute, South Army FC were awarded a free kick and in the ensuing minute, Julio Costa creatively maneuvered the ball around all defenders in front to score South Army’s third goal.
One minute after South Army increased their lead to two goals, Serbia United answered back to make it 3-2. Baljak rebounded his own shot that hit the post and followed it up with another powerful strike that went beyond the keeper’s grasp. At half-time, South Army led 3-2.
After half-time, Serbia United scored two consecutive goals in the 26th minute and 28th minute to regain the lead. Exactly how the first half scoring started, Vukovic and Baljak got their team back into the game. After some possession, Vukovic noticed South Army’s defense sagging off and sent a rocket off a shot from the half-way line into the net, catching the keeper off guard. Two minutes later, Serbia United continued their strong offense and swiftly entered South Army’s penalty box with the ball falling to Baljak for a simple finish in front of the net. In the 47th minute, Baljak finished up the scoring with his hat-trick when he let off a shot a long way from the goal to catch the keeper off guard.
This was a resilient win for Serbia United as they had to come back from a deficit, something they haven’t had to do all season long. For South Army, they picked up their third loss of the season, allowing 22 goals in the last two games.
South Army 3-5 FC Serbia United
Goals: Wang (11′), Lu (12′), Costa (18′) – Vukovic (7′, 26′), Baljak (19′, 28′, 47′)
