Best player, goals and stories from rounds seven and eight

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After a slow start to the season, fans of Naija United will be dancing in the streets of Lagos as the Nigerians finally earned their first win of the season, closely followed by their second in the next round.

In round seven, Charles Ogude was the hero, notching-up a goal and an assist, as well as further strikes from Cristian Venditto and Uchenna Chibueze in a 3-0 triumph against fellow strugglers FC Angelenos. And it was that man Ogude who bagged the winner in a tight 2-1 victory against Bengaluru Phoenix. The results catapults Naija from second-to-last to just outside the play-off places in 8th, which is an astounding turnaround, having not won in their first six games.

Another team who have had an impressive upturn in results after a disappointing start is Club Sportivo Palermo. They are the in-form team in 1FF having won four on the bounce, including two more W’s in the last two rounds. It was Bengaluru again who played a part as a slender 1-0 victory thanks to Izan Sabaté’s second half strike was enough for Los Dioses to get win number one. This was followed by an impressive 2-1 triumph over Bondi FC with Salvador Broglia and Facundo Martins the difference-makers.

Naija and Palermo were only two of four teams to have a 100% winning week over both sets of matches, even if not all of them managed to get double-victories. Bondi FC and Manhattan FC cancelled each other out in round seven. Australian Striker, Ash Jones got his first of the season against The Empire, which was in sharp contrast to his attacking counterpart Dale Ramos who scored his ninth and tenth goals against The Blues and four days later in the 2-0 ‘US-derby’ win against lowly FC Angelenos. Surely it’s not too early to have Ramos as a Player of the Year contender?

South London United also got three points back-to-back – running out 1-0 winners against Clube de Futebol Brasil Amazônia, courtesy of a 26th minute strike from Welshman, Chris Bird. They then took part in a thrilling 3-2 victory versus Tokyo Youth Club with Adrien Grondin showing his class by hitting a hat-trick.

Palermo and South London both move up three places – to fourth and fifth respectively – whilst the US side remain top of the tree.

No round-up would be complete without mentioning Jung Sang-Min’s historic four-goal haul for Paris St-Denis against Inter Nusantara in round eight – a One Future Football record.

These are the three highest-rated players in our top games of round seven and eight. Jung Sang-Min’s historic four-goal haul for Paris St-Denis against Inter Nusantara in round seven saw him get 99 points, almost the perfect performance by the South Korean striker (below). South London United’s French playmaker Adrien Grondin has continued his fine start to the season, he scored 98 points thanks to a hat-trick away to Tokyo Youth Club and Manhattan FC’s Dale Ramos has now scored in eight consecutive games. The American got a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win over rivals FC Angelenos in Round 8 to pick up 92 points.

Club Sportivo Palermo’s Izan Sabaté won this one for his peach of a curler against Bengaluru Phoenix.

Inter Nusantara’s Dutch striker Bas Holsink revealed a powerful message under his shirt after scoring a penalty in their 2-0 win over Riyadh Stars in round seven. ‘Usut Tuntas Tragedi Kanjuruhan’, which means ‘Investigate the Kanjuruhan’s tragedy’, is referring to the 2022 Kanjuruhan Stadium disaster which killed over 135 people in Malang, Indonesia. Victims and families of the victims are still looking for justice.

Elsewhere, Florian Grava and his Paris St-Denis teammates visited Australian Rules Football club Essendon and hung out with Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti at their training ground.

Stats of the Week

1FF standings