Rochester 2 - 3 eastwest (392026569)

Dark skies made the crowd of 34217 at Burrows Square Park a little nervous, but the rain held off. Thomas Frigaard was the appointed referee with assistance provided by John Wagenborg and Vladimir Westh. Rochester had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Coiner - Freyschmidt, Fritis, Yağış - Miliosis, Mosquera, Chirakadze, Marbaix, Scotti - Shirley, Gomes.

eastwest tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players took the field: Periccioli - Garrido, De Biase - Tzohar, Sierra, Tellin, Arrive, Cacciaguerra - Żyznowski, Vizireanu, Angosto.

Rochester seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. eastwest clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. 10 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Rochester to take the lead after a good cross from the right found D. Gomes alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. eastwest took the lead 12 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. B. Sierra was the scorer. The crowd was on its feet 19 minutes into the match, as Rochester's S. Chirakadze found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. P. Arrive sailed high above the opponents as he headed in a corner kick from B. Sierra after 26 minutes of play, making the score 1 - 2. After the ball was lifted in from the left, B. Vizireanu was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 28 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The referee showed eastwest's P. Tzohar the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. E. Freyschmidt of Rochester had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. C. Winde came in to finish the match. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. eastwest had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

D. Gomes was just a finger's breadth away from an equaliser for Rochester with a strike from the left, but S. Periccioli managed to ward the shot off for a corner. Rochester's S. Yağış put his head to a well placed ball, lifted in from the left, and scored to make the score 2 - 2 with 72 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock. Rochester's M. Miliosis had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 73 minutes having been played. N. Saygı was the replacement. Against a lesser team, eastwest could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 74 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. A. Coiner looked great 75 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' F. Angosto. The visiting B. Sierra was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 81 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 2 - 3 was the score. A good free kick by D. Gomes would have scored the equaliser for Rochester, had it not been for the dramatic save by the visitors' goalkeeper. 85 minutes in, eastwest's B. Vizireanu received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. eastwest claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

Most important Rochester player was A. Coiner. N. Saygı on the other hand, had a terrible day. eastwest's top performer was clearly F. Angosto. B. De Biase was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3.