Desert 9 - 0 Gesyni (389910993)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Hot Cauldron saw a crowd turnout of 60077. Atilla Stoszek was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Giovanni Ancarani and Christer Gunnarsson. The derby had been the talk of San'a' all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Desert decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Lineup: Vaysse - Hajizadeh, Goedhart - Hald, Akabey, Delfino, Casseron, Suhrada - Güralp, Germanò, Macchi.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Gesyni. The following players had been chosen: Obad - Al-Reyashi, Faya'a, Al-Ba'dani, Basehi - Bamoalem, Basehi, Al-Aqrabi, Sumeie - Al-Khaledi, Dheifala.

At the beginning of the game, Desert appeared to have already taken this victory to the bank. Given a free kick close to the byline, Desert tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let D. Suhrada slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 1 - 0, 7 minutes into the game. After 13 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by A. Macchi might have resulted in another goal for Desert. However, F. Obad made a spectacular save. 14 minutes in, Gesyni's K. Faya'a received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Desert's D. Suhrada was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - A. Macchi managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 2 - 0 after 18 minutes. After this, you could see that the players of Desert were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. Desert managed to extend their lead to 3 - 0 when A. Goedhart cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. With 22 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, D. Delfino needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Cheers filled the stadium as A. Macchi broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 4 - 0 to Desert. 4 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Desert, with 76 percent of the ball.

Desert solidified their lead at the 50 minute mark, as E. Güralp dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 5 - 0. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Desert to 6 - 0 as M. Germanò finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. E. Güralp's speed was clear to see after 73 minutes, as he darted down the wing and released M. Germanò who placed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 7 - 0. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Desert's E. Güralp increasing the lead to 8 - 0. Desert put themselves up 9 - 0 when E. Akabey broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. When K. Faya'a made yet another studs-first tackle after 84 minutes, the referee was obliged to book the Gesyni player for the second time, sending him off the pitch. Desert claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 81 percent.

The most dominating Desert player was without a doubt E. Güralp. However, D. Casseron made a disastrous appearance. M. Basehi performed admirably for Gesyni. F. Obad turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 9 - 0.