Fortuna 1 - 5 Manchester (389688067)

12000 spectators arrived at Royal Stadium, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Giuliano Del Sal was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gerold Francken and Cornel Heim. Fortuna had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Jaber - Rais, Salman, Hamid, Duhli - Al-Akil, Shaybani, Yousif, Ibrahim - Suri, Radwan.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Manchester. Lineup: Hadad - Kaleel, Bin-Ameen, Abu-Ibrahim, Hegazy - Mufid, Ameen, El-Usman, Warthani - Khashshab, Al Oawayran.

0 - 1 was the score with 9 minutes played, after W. Khashshab cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Manchester. A. Suri charged down the left and had a wonderful opportunity to score the equaliser for Fortuna, but the shot went well wide of the goal. The visitors' H. Hegazy took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 23 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for Manchester. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Manchester enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 64 percent of possession.

With the scoreboard showing that 49 minutes had been played, Manchester nearly put themselves up another goal after M. Al Oawayran came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. A drive down the left side allowed H. Hegazy to get in close and score another goal for Manchester after 50 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 3. After 67 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Z. El-Usman who increased Manchester's lead to 0 - 4. 71 minutes in, Fortuna's S. Shaybani received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Fortuna's H. Radwan cut towards the middle after 81 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 4. After 82 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave W. Khashshab a chance to increase the lead for Manchester, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 5. By now, the players in Manchester felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. W. Khashshab came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over N. Jaber but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. Possession in this half belonged to Manchester, who controlled the ball 66 percent of the time.

The most dominating Fortuna player was without a doubt A. Suri. A. Hamid on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Manchester player was Z. Ameen. However, A. Abu-Ibrahim made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 5.