Eterno 3 - 3 Quedis (391338192)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 9838 at Estadio Monumental David Arellano today. Tommy Lee Whitfield was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ulf Sørvik and Alessandro Castagna. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Eterno. They fielded: Bech Jørgensen - March, Lay, Lévano - Jaramillo, Oliver, Roxas Sotolongo, Casas, Hereveri - Agostinho, Calfunao.

Quedis tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Ribeiro - Schwarzer, Justo - Lavín, Warner, Yuraszeck, Barasarte, Martínez Camarón - Martin, Agurto, Kötzing.

Eterno mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Quedis tried to focus their attacks down the middle. Eterno were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. After a fine move down the middle A. Roxas Sotolongo nearly gave the home side a goal after 6 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Down the middle came F. Yuraszeck, making a fantastic play that nearly had Quedis take the lead after 11 minutes, but D. Bech Jørgensen preserved the tie. 39 minutes in, Quedis appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only solid. After 41 minutes, Quedis put themselves up 0 - 1, as S. Justo finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. Some fine movement on the left led to a Quedis goal after 42 minutes, making it 0 - 2. B. Agurto was noted down as the scorer. By now, the players in Quedis felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Eterno claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

A review of the gameplan helped Quedis get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. B. Agurto left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 46 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. B. Maldonado was the replacement. S. Justo wanted to play on, but the Quedis coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 58 minutes into the game by A. M'Boup. After 58 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for B. Kötzing who increased Quedis's lead to 0 - 3. 61 minutes into the game, Quedis seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. Eterno's E. Jaramillo got the home crowd going when he finished off a left wing charge, reducing the away team's lead to 1 - 3. 70 minutes in, Eterno's C. Oliver received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Some things can only be learned through experience, and V. Casas should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting Quedis a goal with 76 minutes of the match played. At 78 minutes into the game, Eterno's A. Lay deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 2 - 3. With 82 minutes having been played, Eterno scored to make it 3 - 3. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but E. Jaramillo was marked down as the scorer. Possession in this half belonged to Eterno, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

Eterno's top performer was clearly A. Calfunao. A. Lay was a disappointment, however. Quedis's best player was B. Kötzing. F. Lavín on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 3.