Elpis 5 - 0 DHS (380783220)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 52331 had shown up at Marea Verde for the match. Terence Plooij was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Benjamin Basson and Alejandro Durán Puig. Elpis tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Maftei - Lapie, Pedretti, Constantin - Vaidhyanathan, Görbe, Korsten, Žilić, Sandoval - Pitois, Grønlund.

DHS had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Nuţu - Firiteanu, Jemmali, Tudorache - Crasto, Gheorghe, Mărăsescu, Sandu, Galeriu - 贤杰 (Xianjie) , Gönczi.

With clinical precision, the cross from winger A. Sandoval found its way to C. Pitois's head, and a screaming header gave Elpis the goal after 2 minutes played. 1 - 0 A cross coming in on the right hand side left L. Galeriu alone in front of the goal after 11 minutes but his shot was woeful. 19 minutes into the game, Elpis were awarded a penalty that D. Vaidhyanathan turned into 2 - 0 without a problem. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Elpis scored another to make it 3 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for C. Pitois after 29 minutes. Elpis managed to extend their lead to 4 - 0 when C. Pitois cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. This third goal completed a hattrick for C. Pitois. After this, you could see that the players of Elpis were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. With 40 minutes played, Elpis put themselves up 5 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to L. Pedretti, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Firiteanu from DHS a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 42 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The player down was C. Pitois. The Elpis bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. The teams went for the halftime break at 5 - 0. Elpis claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

After 50 minutes, DHS switched C. Gheorghe with M. Culianu, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. A. Sandoval wanted to play on, but the Elpis coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 69 minutes into the game by P. Fogagnolo. The coach of Elpis was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 73 minutes, T. Koppuravuri came on for C. Pitois. E. Grønlund left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 73 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. P. Benyó was the replacement. Elpis's L. Lapie placed the ball right at his teammate's feet after a corner, but L. Pedretti couldn't finish. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 85 minutes, Elpis tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. After 88 minutes, DHS got a chance to reduce by the way of a penalty, but C. Mărăsescu embarrased himself by clipping it wide. DHS's M. Sandu refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 89 minutes. C. Maftei made a brilliant save 89 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from M. Sandu on the right hand side. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Elpis, with 53 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Elpis player was without a doubt P. Benyó. F. Constantin was a disappointment, however. DHS's best player was C. Mărăsescu. On the other hand, M. Crasto's play was disheartening. The match ends 5 - 0.