XRay 0 - 3 Elefant (380780040)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 23421 that came out to Joc de rahat. Mikael Tuvmar was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jacek Ćwiertnia and Salbatore Borghi. XRay had chosen a strategic 4-3-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Babeş - Serban, Kratovičius, Florea, Borghi - Caraiani, Stoichiţă, Ribas - Sanda, Schmied-Blecha, Vitiello.

Elefant decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Heredia - Saarikettu, Chávez, Slănină - Tsiranidis, Popa, Brâncoveanu, Chiorean, Sterian - Piha, Eminger.

The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when A. Sterian was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 6 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! 8 minutes into the game, XRay had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. After 9 minutes, Elefant put themselves up 0 - 1, as M. Chiorean finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. The home crowd cheered when, after 11 minutes, C. Slănină's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. D. Eminger received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 34 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Elefant fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Elefant, with 61 percent of the ball.

During the break, XRay's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. A penalty was awarded after 76 minutes, and O. Saarikettu made the most of his chance to put Elefant up by another goal. 0 - 3 for the visitors. In the lead, Elefant adjusted their style of play with 76 minutes gone. The Elefant coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 76 minutes into the game. C. Slănină didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. With 85 minutes played, C. Stoichiţă was very close to reducing the score for XRay with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. P. Babeş got a fingertip on M. Chiorean's shot from the left 86 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. After 88 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as XRay found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to solid. Possession in this half belonged to Elefant, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

XRay's top performer was clearly L. Schmied-Blecha. On the other hand, P. Sanda's play was disheartening. Most important Elefant player was Z. Piha. N. Tsiranidis on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 3.