City 4 - 6 nytmares (379724623)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 33721 had shown up at Man City USA Arena for the match. Kris Thorninger was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Augusto Torre and Sipke Daemen. City had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Lineup: Howell - Babinovas, Dobiáš, Rhoden - Fiechtl, Rehermann, Dumitrescu, Scott - Duncan, Toragan, Arnold.

nytmares decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Minassian - Troshchenkov, Trung Quốc - Ariki, Ventura, Iffländer, Gudaniec, Niţulescu - Cowcher, Reimer, Ilyashov.

nytmares displayed their ability to play creatively. With 18 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. A. Ventura put the ball away for 0 - 1. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 24 minutes into the match, an alert A. Duncan bagged the ball for City, levelling the score to 1 - 1. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 26 minutes into the match, and D. Trung Quốc wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 1 - 2 for the visitors. nytmares's A. Gudaniec was shown a yellow card after 37 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After 40 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed V. Troshchenkov to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 1 - 3. The players of nytmares now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. City refused to be intimidated and, breaking through the middle, A. Duncan managed to slip the ball home for 2 - 3. With 42 minutes played, nytmares put themselves up 2 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was D. Cowcher. It was 2 - 4 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to City, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.

The visitors added to their lead 52 minutes into the game, after a sensational penalty kick by nytmares's A. Gudaniec slid just past the home keeper. 2 - 5. City's T. Rhoden got himself booked for a foul. nytmares's V. Ilyashov went down after a savage challenge, but could continue playing after some medical attention. City's fans were urging them forward as they tried to get back into the game, and their vocal support was rewarded 74 minutes into the match as H. Fiechtl ran onto a beautiful ball played through the visitors' defence and slotted it past the keeper to reduce the deficit. 3 - 5. After 78 minutes, nytmares's L. Ariki burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 3 - 6. The home team's supporters got excited again when A. Duncan broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 4 - 6. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for A. Duncan. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by City, with 55 percent of the ball.

City's top performer was clearly A. Toragan. J. Howell on the other hand, had a terrible day. U. Iffländer performed admirably for nytmares. D. Trung Quốc turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 6.