Sydney 3 - 4 Baleasa-Olt (379620442)

36643 spectators arrived at FC Sydney Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Epifanio Carloncha was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Vincenzo Hänggi and Gabriele Perrucci. Sydney tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Starters: Corujeira - Bucătaru, Dombi, Vasile - Gâteau, Greser, Kotsch, Juršāns - Celayanda, Peleja, Jinga.

Baleasa-Olt decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Lăpădat - Precup, Nasta, Gănescu - Toplu, Dobroiu, Pricopi, Stojaković, Rossignol - Jordans, Vincze.

A mistake by the home side's central defence after 11 minutes allowed T. Vincze to score for Baleasa-Olt. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Baleasa-Olt's C. Nasta left the field after 25 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was B. Viscanti. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 33 minutes gave Sydney a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and J. Celayanda stepped up to the challenge. 1 - 1 It was 1 - 1 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Sydney, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

The coach of Baleasa-Olt wanted to try to change things around after 46 minutes, and gave new tactical instructions. After 46 minutes, the Baleasa-Olt coach had a quick word about the tactical set-up and decided to try another approach. With the match clock at 46 minutes, Baleasa-Olt modified their style of play a little bit. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, Baleasa-Olt's C. Rossignol somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for T. Vincze, who struck for 1 - 2. After 80 minutes, M. Gâteau got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn't get the shot away. After 82 minutes, M. Gâteau made a dash down the middle past the away team's defenders to score the goal that made it 2 - 2. A. Dombi of Sydney seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 3 - 2 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by R. Juršāns. The Baleasa-Olt free kick 87 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of W. Jordans, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 3! Baleasa-Olt took the lead 88 minutes into the game, making the score 3 - 4 after some elegant movement down the middle. W. Jordans was the scorer. Sydney enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 53 percent of possession.

Most important Sydney player was R. Juršāns. M. Gâteau on the other hand, had a terrible day. Baleasa-Olt's top performer was clearly T. Vincze. However, B. Viscanti made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 4.