Gaïndé 1 - 1 ndiaye (390184373)

Dark skies made the crowd of 37980 at Kinepis Atomic Park a little nervous, but the rain held off. Elmano Garcia was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bastian Wildenstein and Emiliano Principiano. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Dakar derby and the crowd was divided evenly. Gaïndé had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. They fielded: Bucholc - Galoko, Migliónico, Rönkkö - Radziwill, Nyell, Hägggren, Rohweder - van Ankeren, Watara, Nimis.

ndiaye tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Taskov - Jurcă, Dorobăţ, Puustinen - Nedelcu, Niburski, Costal, Puścian, Benne - Dahlsjö, Skansbo.

Right from the start it was obvious that ndiaye were expecting an easy victory. ndiaye used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. After 18 minutes, a penalty kick by J. Puścian could have resulted in the lead for the visitors, but the keeper made the save. It was obvious that team ndiaye had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. P. Bucholc looked great 23 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' E. Jurcă. Gaïndé took the lead after 27 minutes as a result of K. Rönkkö's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. The visitors almost came back with an equaliser 30 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but when V. Skansbo tried to finish the attack, he couldn't deliver the shot hard enough to seriously challenge the keeper. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. ndiaye had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

The ndiaye coach was infuriated with the lax attitude of his players during the first half, and rightly so. As the players returned from the dressing room, it was clear that his message had sunk in. After 46 minutes, ndiaye switched V. Nedelcu with F. Leitzel, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. 55 minutes into the game, C. Benne had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came K. den Hollander. ndiaye players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. ndiaye had a chance to level the score as J. Puścian suddenly found himself free in the middle of the box with only the keeper to beat, but he misjudged the finish, and only managed to hit the bar. The visitors kept the pressure on to tie the game when, after 58 minutes, K. den Hollander broke through the centre and found himself alone with the keeper. P. Bucholc made a great block, though. Against a lesser team, ndiaye could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 60 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. After 64 minutes, the visitors levelled the scores after V. Skansbo made it through the middle and struck home to make it 1 - 1. After 70 minutes, the ndiaye coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving E. Jurcă off the field. I. Südy took his place. G. Taskov was the new captain of ndiaye - handed the armband by the departing player. With the match clock at 70 minutes, ndiaye modified their style of play a little bit. ndiaye claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 63 percent.

Gaïndé's best player was L. Nimis. S. Galoko was a disappointment, however. R. Costal performed admirably for ndiaye. However, F. Leitzel made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1.