Monkeys 0 - 11 Almaty (380092238)

12000 punters turned up at Monkey House, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Jakke Lecharlier was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Luca Corsi and Sune Flies. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Monkeys. The following players took the field: Shmorgun - Suenov, Bazilov, Baysary, Rooneyev - Zhunisaliev, Kozlovskiy, Abdildin, Baygendgeev - Temirbek, Kaliyev.

Almaty started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Starters: Sausset - Siemens, Frahm - Wickflod, Potter, Kukk, Codó, Möwe - Imanbek, da Conceição, Chastov.

After 3 minutes, Almaty's A. Kukk made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. Against a lesser team, Almaty could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 12 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. 19 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as H. Codó finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. P. Wickflod received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 30 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 3. The Almaty fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. P. Wickflod of Almaty took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 33 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 4. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Möwe from Almaty a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 38 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! T. Rooneyev's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for Monkeys, he bravely continued in the match. A. Potter looked to be heading one way when he unexpectedly passed the ball to I. Imanbek. The move caught everyone off-guard, including his teammate, who panicked and kicked the ball out of play by accident. After 41 minutes, Almaty's J. da Conceição swiftly ran past O. Baysary and nutmegged the keeper! 0 - 5. By now, the players in Almaty felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 5. Almaty had most of the ball, with 86 percent of possession.

Content with how the game was proceeding, the Almaty coach let H. Karim replace T. Siemens after 46 minutes. The Almaty captaincy was handed to H. Karim. With 67 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed I. Imanbek of Almaty to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 6. R. Möwe of Almaty seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 0 - 7 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by P. Frahm. A drive down the left side allowed I. Imanbek to get in close and score another goal for Almaty after 78 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 8. Always quick and a menace to his opponents, J. da Conceição was very close to getting through after 82 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. 83 minutes into the game, Almaty seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a passable level of organisation. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 85 minutes, Almaty did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, J. da Conceição was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 9. Some fine movement on the left led to a Almaty goal after 87 minutes, making it 0 - 10. H. Karim was noted down as the scorer. After 88 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed R. Möwe to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 11. Possession in this half belonged to Almaty, who controlled the ball 88 percent of the time.

L. Kozlovskiy performed admirably for Monkeys. On the other hand, V. Shmorgun's play was disheartening. Almaty's top performer was clearly A. Kukk. J. da Conceição on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 11.