Abu Danladi

In the Moment: Abu Danladi

Abu Danladi Goal vs. Vancouver Whitecaps

A lot goes down on the pitch in any given match. For In the Moment, we talk to a player about a specific play from last week’s match and letting them give an inside view of the play as it developed.
This week, we talked to forward Abu Danladi, who scored his first goal of the season against Vancouver last week when he came on as a sub in the 87th minute. It was his first appearance since coming on as a sub against Sporting Kansas City back on June 3.

Abu Danladi:
At [the beginning of the clip] I am just waiting for [Darwin] to see if he goes through or not. If I start moving, I am probably offside or this defender goes with me and it is a wasted run. I had to time it. I knew I was quick enough to get in front of him. When I saw [Darwin] move past Rasmus is when I knew he was definitely going to hit it. Darwin does that a lot when he is practicing. He cuts it across the goal. So I was just waiting right there in case the ball came to tap it in, which it did.

[Romario] is really good at holding the ball. He just helps a lot. When Darwin gets the ball, he draws a lot of players on that side and leaves space there.

That is a hard touch. It looked like [the defender] was about to block it, but he missed it too. [Darwin] is small, so he can get through all those little spaces. When he has the ball you have to be alert and know he is able to do whatever. Anything can happen with him. It is just being there. If I didn’t run, then it is just a wasted ball. It is just a really good pass.

In the Moment: Abu Danladi -

I am trying to get in between both [defenders]. Adrian [Heath] played and he always tells me he scored most of his goals in between the six-yard line. He always tells us to run in between the goals in the six. That is what I did and it worked. The other center back couldn’t see me and [my defender] couldn’t grab me because I ran past him. He had no idea. It is hard for them to decide.

I am going with so much pace, it doesn’t matter if I run into the goal as long as the ball goes into the net. It doesn’t matter. If it goes in, it goes in. A goal is a goal.