manchester 0 - 1 Karakol (387171764)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 12000 to city of manchester u Arenas. Carlão Canotilho was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Cai Ching Hwa and Antonio Tucci. manchester tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Orozkulov - Shamilov, Anashchenkov, Mirbek Uulu - Berezin, Sergek Uulu, Kitsuta, Arinbayev, Kanibekov - Sikachev, Neznanov.

Karakol started off with a 5-5-0 lineup. They fielded: Drozdowski - Chalilis, Hahto, Shcherbin, Siegfried, Boltnev - Brandl, Barreiro, Baldassa, van Geel, Meshcherin -.

It was obvious that Karakol were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. At this time in the match, Karakol were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. manchester's S. Berezin was shown a yellow card after 17 minutes for slicing down an opponent. manchester's M. Kitsuta got himself booked for a foul. The referee showed Karakol's A. Brandl the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. van Geel from Karakol a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 33 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! M. Mirbek Uulu of manchester had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. E. Samatov came in to finish the match. Karakol's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. Karakol made it 0 - 1 as M. Barreiro got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to G. Baldassa who whipped a low drive in off the far post. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to manchester, who controlled the ball 65 percent of the time.

With 61 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, E. Samatov needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Several players seemed a little dazed by the warm weather, and were repeatedly tricked by the clever and agile A. Boltnev. After 83 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by Karakol was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options. manchester claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 64 percent.

manchester's top performer was clearly M. Sergek Uulu. I. Anashchenkov was a disappointment, however. Most important Karakol player was V. Shcherbin. On the other hand, L. Siegfried's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 1.