Balaceanu 0 - 2 bau-bau (334366268)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 12000 at FC Balaceanu Arena today. Milenko Krpan was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alessandro Spirig and Gavril Asandi. Balaceanu started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: de Barros - Benczik, Tudor, Vieira - Vizitiu, Rivière, Fianu, Mincu, Amzov - Berlinger, Buican.

bau-bau tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. They fielded: Rubeo - Nisa, Pawarscher, Zwagemaker - Frankot, Guérard, Barksal, Ljungmar - Răţoi, Goulbourne, Dunca.

The strategy for Balaceanu was to use their ability to press. 22 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but V. Dunca, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. After 23 minutes Balaceanu tried to exploit their counterattacking skills, unfortunately, A. Vizitiu's shot sailed wide after his break down the right. F. Vieira of Balaceanu received a yellow card after 26 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 29 minutes into the game, E. Pawarscher was a hair's breadth away from giving bau-bau the lead with a shot from over on the left. A prompt block by H. de Barros saved the home team that time. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to bau-bau, who controlled the ball 63 percent of the time.

The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when L. Răţoi was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 54 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! Against a lesser team, Balaceanu could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 58 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. 62 minutes into the match, bau-bau's D. Goulbourne demonstrated his famed speed as he raced past his marker and passed the ball to L. Răţoi who chipped it in for 0 - 1. A drive down the left side allowed C. Guérard to get in close and score another goal for bau-bau after 63 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 2. bau-bau claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

V. Buican performed admirably for Balaceanu. G. Rivière turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating bau-bau player was without a doubt D. Goulbourne. On the other hand, Q. Frankot's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 2.