victoria_botirlau 4 - 3 AJ (380198610)

The 8480 spectators at botirlau arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Eric Dexter was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Williams Tilley and Hans Christian Junker. victoria_botirlau decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. They fielded: Damian - Haşegan, Băbuşanu, Nichita, Ailioaiei - Mihai, Flosznik, Vincze-Nagy, Zărnescu - Muñoz Hidalgo, Ştefan.

AJ had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Lineup: Meškauskis - Buzariu, Ulici, Iernuţan - Jensen, Ciobanu, Wennbom, Zsélyi - Voetmann, Paştina, Goby.

victoria_botirlau demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. 0 - 1 was the score with 2 minutes played, after V. Paştina cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for AJ. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave I. Zărnescu from victoria_botirlau a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 16 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! M. Ştefan enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again. Some fine movement on the left led to a AJ goal after 21 minutes, making it 0 - 2. F. Goby was noted down as the scorer. J. Voetmann received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 37 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 3. The AJ fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. R. Nichita received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 38 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. V. Paştina of AJ was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The head of J. Muñoz Hidalgo connected with a corner kick after 41 minutes, and the ball ended up with M. Flosznik of victoria_botirlau who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 1 - 3. After 44 minutes of game time, V. Iernuţan had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but D. Damian was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. 44 minutes in, victoria_botirlau's B. Haşegan received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. It was 1 - 3 at the break. AJ claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

The visitors nearly scored again after 49 minutes, but a superb save by D. Damian kept J. Jensen's free kick out of the net. 84 minutes into the match, victoria_botirlau's R. Mihai collected a ball sent down the right and put it in the back of the net, narrowing the score to 2 - 3. After 86 minutes of play, I. Băbuşanu equalised for victoria_botirlau after an elegant attack from the right. Possession in this half belonged to AJ, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

As neither team was able to break the deadlock before the end of regular play, the teams took to the field again for extra time. After 109 minutes, I. Băbuşanu came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 4 - 3, giving victoria_botirlau the lead. Game over, victoria_botirlau win! The most dominating victoria_botirlau player was without a doubt R. Mihai. On the other hand, D. Damian's play was disheartening. AJ's best player was F. Goby. D. Buzariu turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 3.