Juniors 0 - 3 Rufus (382976616)

13454 punters turned up at Tsubasa, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Akis Papailiakis was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Pierre Paillard and Frank A. Preto. Juniors had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. They fielded: Jaúregui - Atherton, Quilapan - Huisbauer, Schlieren, Perry, Oliveira, Danielsson - Soler Turmo, Mallezie, Sáenz Baroja.

Rufus started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Tworek - Robertsen, Dobó, Giannone - Font, Frackenpohl, Maino, Eguióiz, Aldehuela - Ferlenga, Vizcaya.

Juniors tried to focus their attacks down the middle. Rufus saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Rufus had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. Rufus's V. Ferlenga could have put the guests one up after 3 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but D. Jaúregui was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 22 minutes into the match, and D. Eguióiz wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. Rufus's E. Tworek left the field after 26 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was B. Espinha. Rufus increased their lead after 29 minutes when V. Ferlenga broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. J. Aldehuela was, after 36 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper D. Jaúregui made the save. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, L. Danielsson got himself booked. The manager of Juniors was not happy. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rufus, with 72 percent of the ball.

A. Giannone looked like he could fly, as he rose high to head the ball. Unfortunately for Rufus, the ball went just barely wide. In an effort to secure the lead, Rufus changed their tactic after 75 minutes. Players in Rufus heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. D. Jaúregui got a fingertip on I. Vizcaya's shot from the left 80 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when C. Mallezie tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. B. Espinha was too alert for that! With 82 minutes played, O. Dobó of Rufus fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 85 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 3 as V. Ferlenga finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. Rufus had most of the ball, with 73 percent of possession.

The most dominating Juniors player was without a doubt C. Mallezie. D. Atherton was a disappointment, however. G. Maino performed admirably for Rufus. B. Espinha turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 3.