Esquecidos 5 - 1 Racing (391547208)

37183 spectators had found their way to Estádio do Esquecimento, despite the heavy rain. Markus Maria Falkenflucht was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Liam Carlsson and Julien Lozach. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this São Paulo derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. Esquecidos started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Delfino - Hilscher, Johansen, Eisl - Goulart, Broersma, Molina, Meeti - Forti, Županski, Pătroi.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Racing. They fielded: Askonen - Prałat, Utrera, Costa Veiga - Pyöli, Bourbon, Graen, Busiello, Paur - Toffolo, Rubin.

Today, Esquecidos's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Racing. After 11 minutes of play, the free-spirited T. Pyöli decided to go for goal as he struck the ball from the corner of the pitch. The ball hit a defender in the face and bounced out of play. R. Paur came close to putting the visiting team one up 17 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but N. Delfino managed to tip the ball to a corner. Racing's T. Prałat could have put the guests one up after 18 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but N. Delfino was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. With 19 minutes gone, G. Županski suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Esquecidos caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. Esquecidos had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. With 24 minutes played F. Forti almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. With 25 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. R. Paur put the ball away for 0 - 1. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit R. Paur just fine. The crowd was on its feet 29 minutes into the match, as Esquecidos's G. Županski found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. Esquecidos took the lead 33 minutes in, as F. Forti broke through on the left and put the 2 - 1 shot just beyond the reach of the outstretched keeper. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to Esquecidos, who controlled the ball 62 percent of the time.

With 53 minutes played, the visitors almost levelled the score. N. Utrera shot a hard curved free kick, striking the post. The bench was restless, and with 58 minutes passed Racing's coach gave A. Svistunov the opportunity the player had been hoping for. R. Paur reluctantly left the field. With 61 minutes played, Esquecidos put themselves up 3 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to G. Županski, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Esquecidos to 4 - 1 as F. Forti finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. The coach of Esquecidos was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 71 minutes, D. Pishmanov came on for F. Forti. After a short break after 71 minutes, Esquecidos seemed to change their tactical approach a bit. Esquecidos managed to extend their lead to 5 - 1 when G. Županski cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. By then G. Županski had scored three goals - a hat trick! Esquecidos were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. Esquecidos enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 64 percent of possession.

The most dominating Esquecidos player was without a doubt F. Molina. R. Eisl was a disappointment, however. M. Rubin performed admirably for Racing. A. Svistunov on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 1.