Tiberians 5 - 1 Djiboutis (390245844)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 39336 at Tiberians Arena today. Toni Brogniart was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Andrej Bizjak and Kristian Frederiksen. The derby had been the talk of Rotterdam all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Tiberians had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Lőw - Hodzelmans, Dekkers - de Kruijff, Soeteman, Welbergen, Aercke, Eliaçık - Jordens, Spinnewyn, Willigers.

A 5-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Djiboutis. They fielded: Tricarico - Bonnema, Aguilera, Kęczkowski, Bayrakçı, Ebbers - Prunzel, McCormack, Chamberlain, Spangler - Nierop.

It was an obvious ambition of Djiboutis to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. K. Eliaçık's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 7 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to D. Spinnewyn who knocked it in for Tiberians. 1 - 0! One of many good crosses from K. Eliaçık on the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by D. Spinnewyn, who scored for Tiberians. 2 - 0 Confident in their lead, Tiberians's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. P. Aguilera couldn't do anything to stop the technically gifted D. Spinnewyn as he dodged past on his way to scoring a wonderful goal for Tiberians - 3 - 0! This third goal completed a hattrick for D. Spinnewyn. 25 minutes into the match, Djiboutis replied and reduced the lead to 3 - 1. B. Ebbers scored on a marvellous cross pass coming in from the left. D. Spinnewyn increased the lead for Tiberians to 4 - 1, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! D. Spinnewyn's curling free kick almost found the goal for Tiberians, but the visitors' keeper somehow managed to get ahold of it. 4 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Tiberians, with 58 percent of the ball.

J. Jordens should probably have put his team up another goal after 54 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by P. Tricarico kept the visitors in the game. Djiboutis's L. Bonnema was shown a yellow card after 65 minutes for slicing down an opponent. 76 minutes in, Djiboutis's T. Spangler received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 82 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as D. Spinnewyn broke through, making the score 5 - 1 for Tiberians. Tiberians's D. Spinnewyn got himself booked for a foul. Tiberians enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

Tiberians's best player was D. Spinnewyn. S. Lőw was a disappointment, however. A. Nierop performed admirably for Djiboutis. However, E. McCormack made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 1.