OFEK 0 - 3 znatok (381096681)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 12050 to tedi. Peter Silverér was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Freek Ronsse and Iván Federico Aguirre. OFEK decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Starters: Gherasim - Segal, Zaltzman, Tatum, Kline - Rosenstein, Al-Akram, Bin-Aziz, Ben-Harush, Shigris - Krahn.

znatok started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Bouin - Denaer, Cornea, Desclée de Maredsous - Segev, Mattos, Rome, King, Amitai - Akinshin, Muntean.

The strategy for OFEK was to use their ability to press. znatok seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when E. Akinshin 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! S. Gherasim looked great 7 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' O. Cornea. 0 - 1 was the score with 22 minutes played, after E. Segev cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for znatok. znatok came close to extending their lead as K. Mattos delivered a low effort on goal from the right after 28 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. OFEK's B. Bin-Aziz left the field after 31 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was B. Goldberger. B. Goldberger's technique was perfect on this sunny day and led to some breathtaking tricks that bamboozled the defence. After 33 minutes, znatok's L. Desclée de Maredsous burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. znatok claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 79 percent.

OFEK needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 48 minutes C. Ben-Harush made way for Y. Zerach. The visitors' E. Akinshin took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 53 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for znatok. The coach of znatok was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 54 minutes, V. Apasov came on for D. King. F. Rome was the new captain of znatok - handed the armband by the departing player. A. Amitai left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 54 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. D. Shinfeld was the replacement. Confident in their lead, znatok's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. The OFEK coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. As usual, Y. Zerach tried to use his strength and hard work for the benefit of the team, but the heat hit him hard and he couldn't keep pace at all. The home crowd cheered when, after 76 minutes, E. Akinshin's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. znatok had most of the ball, with 73 percent of possession.

The most dominating OFEK player was without a doubt E. Shigris. M. Kline on the other hand, had a terrible day. F. Rome performed admirably for znatok. D. Shinfeld was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 3.