Esporte 0 - 2 esquerda (391580178)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 28315 to Monumental Masil. Floricã Dimulescu was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gary Goodwillie and José Luís Proença. Esporte decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Lineup: Cervi - Lucena, Sabino, Parmesão, Marley - Woodward, Marechal, Zuloaga, Lobo Cunha - Beltrán, Pituba.

esquerda tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Duarte - Prates, Gracês, Marcq, Mirbach - Roca, Lanciato, Benavente, Krammer - Džinalic, Mangartz.

Pressing was the tactic of the day for Esporte. esquerda tried to focus their attacks down the middle. Esporte's talent at pressing frustrated the spectators as the game became a dire midfield struggle. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, esquerda's D. Roca somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for Z. Džinalic, who struck for 0 - 1. 25 minutes into the game, B. Lucena came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. I. Marley had a chance to even the score when Esporte were awarded a penalty kick 38 minutes into the match, but the keeper deflected his shot over the bar. E. Mangartz came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over G. Cervi but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. It was obvious that team esquerda had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. 42 minutes into the match, Z. Džinalic came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. The coach of esquerda was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 44 minutes, L. Batalha came on for E. Mangartz. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to esquerda, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

At this time in the match, Esporte were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. J. Marechal of Esporte received a yellow card after 70 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The home crowd was not impressed when N. Benavente came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 75 minutes. esquerda were now up 0 - 2. With 76 minutes played, L. Mirbach nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. esquerda had most of the ball, with 64 percent of possession.

Esporte's best player was J. Pituba. On the other hand, G. Cervi's play was disheartening. esquerda's top performer was clearly L. Batalha. L. Mirbach turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 2.