Gurufis 5 - 3 Indus (382886234)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 62500 at New Gurufis Arena today. Najeeb Salman Ajmi was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fabio Campomagnani and Gabriel Ostrak. Gurufis started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Starters: Prauda - Vattuone, Tallarico - Narváez, Cadorra, Mir, Neve, Rechberger - Cayón, Majantie, Zanetti.

Indus tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Teodorescu - Kalfoglou, Buitelaar, Escobedo - Stanchev, Galobard, Ribas, Cuadros, Radočaj - Lefebvre, Aykan.

W. Rechberger made one of his many fine passes from the wing into the middle 14 minutes into the match. A. Cayón bravely attempted to execute a diving header and the ball was met firmly with his forehead for Gurufis. 1 - 0. With 31 minutes played, Gurufis put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to F. Neve, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Indus's H. Stanchev got himself booked for a foul. Gurufis were forced into a substitution as W. Rechberger couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing R. Chevalier to come in off the bench. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. I. Cadorra squirmed through their central defence after 36 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 0. A bit later, Indus's D. Escobedo easily reduced the lead to 3 - 1 after a misunderstanding in the home side's central defence. 38 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as R. Chevalier broke through, making the score 4 - 1 for Gurufis. Indus managed to reduce the score to 4 - 2 as H. Stanchev finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Gurufis's M. Majantie increasing the lead to 5 - 2. The players of Gurufis now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. It was 5 - 2 at the break. Neither team were able to dominate possession this half.

Indus kept trying to force their way through on the right side and Š. Radočaj got his chance after 50 minutes, but the home side's defence held their position and stopped the attack. M. Majantie left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 65 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. L. Zupin was the replacement. The bench was restless, and with 65 minutes passed Indus's coach gave A. Valdés the opportunity the player had been hoping for. A. Buitelaar reluctantly left the field. A. Valdés became the new Indus captain. With 65 minutes played, M. Lefebvre of Indus fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. The home crowd was silenced as H. Stanchev took a successful penalty shot 71 minutes into the game, reducing the home lead to 5 - 3. Indus enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.

Gurufis's top performer was clearly E. Mir. N. Narváez on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Indus player was N. Cuadros. M. Lefebvre was a disappointment, however. The match ends 5 - 3.