Turkestan 4 - 0 Cerb (387174737)

54733 fans braved the pouring rain at Hodja Ahmet Yesevi. Pi Tzu-Yu was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alfonso Mauri Argudo and Rãzvan Velea. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Turkestan. The following players took the field: Lodiers - Mäiseli, Vaglio, Zaunbrecher - Hojarski, Azanbaev, Aymagambetov, Piñeiro, Van Linthout - Bovone, Lorion.

Cerb tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Colon - Beccari, Spöerer, Lombardi, Moreno - Abdildin, Cervera, Bänninger, Seimel, Costea - Cabot.

Cerb clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. After 8 minutes, the defensive line of Cerb created a counterattack through the middle that gave P. Lombardi a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. M. Van Linthout caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 25 minutes. This gave Turkestan the 1 - 0 lead. Against a lesser team, Turkestan could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 30 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like J. Cabot. Turkestan's F. Lorion had an excellent opportunity after 39 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! C. Seimel did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. 43 minutes into the game, Turkestan were awarded a penalty that R. Hojarski turned into 2 - 0 without a problem. With 44 minutes played, Z. Moreno of Cerb fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Turkestan, with 55 percent of the ball.

Things were going to get worse for the visitors. M. Van Linthout squirmed through their central defence after 71 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 0. J. Piñeiro wanted to play on, but the Turkestan coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 80 minutes into the game by L. Gheorghe. In the lead, Turkestan adjusted their style of play with 80 minutes gone. With 83 minutes played, Turkestan's F. Lorion almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Turkestan's G. Bovone increasing the lead to 4 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Turkestan lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Possession in this half belonged to Cerb, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

Turkestan's best player was G. Bovone. M. Lodiers on the other hand, had a terrible day. Cerb's top performer was clearly M. Costea. L. Colon turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 0.