BOUNITED 1 - 3 Buckstars (374450317)

Clouds darkened the skies at Stadium Libertador Simon Bolivar as 40889 spectators turned up for the match. Javier Oriol was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ottar Lian and Raanan Sheinzinger. BOUNITED started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Lineup: Eriksson - Gonzáles, Cassidy - Stastny, Gómez, Engér, Samprakos, Perrine - Scarano, Pérez, Abrahamsen.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Buckstars. They fielded: Lamberti - Kaltenborn, Heeneman, Moore, Poynton - Tamuro, Duchniak, Stigbrant, Hjorter, Fantappiè - Cusí.

Today, Buckstars's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Buckstars, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. 20 minutes into the match, Buckstars nearly took the lead, as F. Fantappiè broke through on the right. F. Eriksson made the save, however. BOUNITED's counterattacks created a good chance for F. Pérez on the right after 21 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. P. Perrine made one of his many fine passes from the wing into the middle 25 minutes into the match. F. Pérez bravely attempted to execute a diving header and the ball was met firmly with his forehead for BOUNITED. 1 - 0. BOUNITED's L. Abrahamsen had an excellent opportunity after 39 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! The home team will be cursing R. Heeneman for weeks; he finished off a great pass from the left, knocking it past the keeper without a problem. The match was level at 1 - 1 after 42 minutes. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Heeneman from Buckstars a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 43 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Halftime score was 1 - 1. This part of the game was a standoff between the teams in terms of possession.

Buckstars had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. Buckstars's F. Poynton gave the visitors a 1 - 2 lead after 65 minutes with a superb strike from the right. With 66 minutes played, after a good run down the left, F. Pérez went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. M. Kaltenborn came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over F. Eriksson but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. The referee showed BOUNITED's S. Cassidy the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. R. Heeneman of Buckstars took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 74 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 3. The crowd groaned when P. Perrine, having maneuvered his way down the right, fired the ball just wide and missed a great opportunity to reduce the deficit for BOUNITED. Buckstars had a great opportunity to score following a counterattack after 77 minutes, but K. Duchniak's shot from the left sailed high over the bar. Possession in this half belonged to Buckstars, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

The most dominating BOUNITED player was without a doubt L. Abrahamsen. However, M. Stastny made a disastrous appearance. Buckstars's best player was M. Kaltenborn. On the other hand, A. Cusí's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 3.