Dimashq 0 - 1 amjxxx (389925319)

Dark skies made the crowd of 19000 at Akmen-Ra Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Mose' D'arrigo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Chrisostomos Tsagkris and Pe Davidse. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Dimashq derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. Dimashq decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Kauth - Thomas, Amuchástegui, Faber - Zăbavă, Ciupitu, Schnell, Tavares - Cartagena, Aintzuberro, Mandelli.

amjxxx started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players took the field: Nawo - Attal, Issmael, Darkazli - Salal, Chakour, Al-sayed, Al Bushi - Al Shaykha, Tarrab, Chadourian.

amjxxx's M. Al Bushi was shown a yellow card after 25 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After 26 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to Dimashq's P. Thomas being carried off the pitch and replaced by F. Ajanji. Many thought A. Zăbavă ought to have been awarded a penalty 37 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around H. Nawo after a determined run through the middle. After 41 minutes, O. Chakour sent the corner kick right to M. Issmael who headed it sharply past the keeper. 0 - 1! Dimashq put pressure on the visitors' central defence 42 minutes into the game, but P. Ciupitu couldn't find an opening. Dimashq tried to even things up by sending a long ball towards the centrally placed strikers, but the visitors' defence got the best of this rather direct style of play. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Dimashq had most of the ball, with 68 percent of possession.

Dimashq had to make a substitution after 48 minutes. S. Faber limped off the field and was replaced by H. Margueritte. O. Aintzuberro charged down the left and had a wonderful opportunity to score the equaliser for Dimashq, but the shot went well wide of the goal. With the clock showing 75 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of amjxxx resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by T. Salal in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. Possession in this half belonged to Dimashq, who controlled the ball 67 percent of the time.

P. Ciupitu performed admirably for Dimashq. However, H. Margueritte made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating amjxxx player was without a doubt R. Chadourian. H. Nawo was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 1.