richies 3 - 2 PUMAS (389956144)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 35883 had shown up at richie's palace arena for the match. Addi Scheschko was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Vyktor Khoma and Peter Thamayr. The derby had been the talk of Ciudad de México all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. richies decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Angulo - Autzum, Rawie, Stotz - de Castro, Eitzeroth, Hager, Wechsler, Rainato - Heang, Börjesson.

PUMAS tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Lineup: Benini - Zdankiewicz, Horni - Jonjić, Lizin, Escobar, Heyart, Jakobsen - Fewer, Markulić, Fushimi.

The strategy for richies was to use their ability to press. PUMAS used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. After 1 minutes, the PUMAS coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving K. Lizin off the field. N. Salomon took his place. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 16 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from M. Heang, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. 28 minutes into the game PUMAS's R. Horni found a gap in the home side's central defence and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 1 - 1. N. Salomon had a good try after 35 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. PUMAS's I. Markulić refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 36 minutes. Halftime score was 1 - 1. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by PUMAS, with 53 percent of the ball.

N. Salomon came close to putting the visiting team one up 49 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but J. Angulo managed to tip the ball to a corner. Making his way up the middle 50 minutes into the match, M. Heang almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert R. Benini blocked it to keep the score level. PUMAS had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 62 minutes in when K. Fushimi came up alone against J. Angulo who managed a block. richies took the lead after 63 minutes as a result of J. Börjesson's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. G. Stotz left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 65 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. K. Rusnak was the replacement. Content with how the game was proceeding, the richies coach let F. Beachdel replace U. Rainato after 67 minutes. With 68 minutes played, richies put themselves up 3 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to T. Wechsler, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. By now, the players in richies felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. The home team's fans were upset when, after 69 minutes, the visiting G. Escobar broke through the central defence and kicked the ball past the keeper. 3 - 2 was the score. The richies players could smell victory in the air. G. Eitzeroth wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for A. Venneker after 71 minutes. Possession was split evenly between the teams.

Most important richies player was F. Hager. F. Beachdel on the other hand, had a terrible day. PUMAS's best player was K. Fushimi. G. Escobar was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.