Rock 3 - 0 Verdiblancos (383058513)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 24973 to Rock Arena. Ivan Lomov was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fan Sheng-fu and Leontiy Fedotko. Rock had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: van der Zanden - Claesson, Nürbauer, Baeckens - Hoppmann, Rezzonico, Valcarcel, 云华 (Yunhua) , Godzina - Nielsen, Nuţiu.

Verdiblancos started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. Lineup: Kabulov - Fouque, Vidal, Mircea, Faber, Cardani - Taku, Valenzuela Mena, Gutzeit, Fernández Cossio - Melão.

For their match strategy, Verdiblancos had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. 13 minutes into the game, Verdiblancos seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to solid. Making his way up the middle 25 minutes into the match, E. Nuţiu almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert V. Kabulov blocked it to keep the score level. After a fine move down the middle M. Rezzonico nearly gave the home side a goal after 30 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Some great play up the middle by Rock led to a chance for N. Valcarcel to score after 32 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. A counterattack by Verdiblancos after 33 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but G. Taku, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. 34 minutes into the game, Verdiblancos had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to solid. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Rezzonico from Rock a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 37 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Rock made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left T. Nürbauer completely alone with keeper V. Kabulov, who made a spectacular block. 41 minutes into the game, Verdiblancos seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a poor level of organisation. Rock's W. Godzina was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - E. Nuţiu managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 1 - 0 after 41 minutes. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rock, with 68 percent of the ball.

Despite his frustration resulting in the smashing of a few teacups, the coach of Verdiblancos was able to get his message across, and raised Verdiblancos's organisation to passable. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Rock scored another to make it 2 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for M. Rezzonico after 61 minutes. By now, the players in Rock felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. M. Rezzonico knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Rock player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. With 77 minutes played, Rock's K. Claesson almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. A. Nielsen squirmed through their central defence after 79 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 0. The Rock players could smell victory in the air. N. Valcarcel wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for A. Starke after 79 minutes. Rock's W. Godzina was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 83 minutes. Rock claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

A. Nielsen performed admirably for Rock. S. van der Zanden was a disappointment, however. Verdiblancos's top performer was clearly S. Mircea. V. Kabulov on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 0.