cotoru 5 - 2 steaua (380885609)

Clouds darkened the skies at fc cotorul Arena as 20668 spectators turned up for the match. Muisto Nyholm was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Joachim Davidse and Jes Thorning. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for cotoru. Starters: Igelell - Cook, Savin, Gherca - Fundulea, Mateiuc, Buşaga, Fustoş, Pârvu - Tănase, Cută.

steaua had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Eliade - Isărescu, Ábel, Lădaru, Băruş - Spătariu, Teleabă, Jurj, Doboş - Drâmboi, Delegeanu.

cotoru mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. The guests almost went up by a goal after 14 minutes when D. Lădaru came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. 17 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for cotoru to take the lead after a good cross from the right found Z. Fundulea alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. After 22 minutes, steaua sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached E. Teleabă, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 0 - 1. cotoru needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 22 minutes A. Cută made way for V. Revel. With 22 minutes played, the cotoru coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. P. Alf came on, V. Fustoş had to leave the fray. After 22 minutes, cotoru switched A. Tănase with Á. Cristante, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. 24 minutes in, and cotoru were able to score the equalising goal to make it 1 - 1 when Z. Fundulea picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away team's keeper. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. cotoru claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 74 percent.

cotoru were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Ş. Delegeanu hit the corner kick straight to the keeper, but it was mishandled, giving steaua's A. Jurj an easy chance to knock it in for 1 - 2. With 69 minutes having been played, cotoru scored to make it 2 - 2. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but L. Buşaga was marked down as the scorer. When R. Cook left the game because of a back injury after 70 minutes, cotoru had to continue a man short due to there being no available replacements. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to L. Buşaga, but the cotoru player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 3 - 2! cotoru increased the lead as C. Gherca struck to make the score 4 - 2 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. After 78 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and V. Revel gave the cotoru supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 5 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by cotoru, with 77 percent of the ball.

Most important cotoru player was P. Alf. C. Gherca on the other hand, had a terrible day. R. Drâmboi performed admirably for steaua. On the other hand, R. Eliade's play was disheartening. The match ends 5 - 2.