Atletico 3 - 5 maryland (392517721)

Clear skies welcomed the 14433 spectators who had made their way to Nuevo Vicente calderon. Holger Bleher was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bruno Gemmer and Jay Warden. Atletico decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. Starters: Andeko - Krużycki, López, Pinel, Áldozó, Andò - Gordillo, Burgos, Fuenmayor, Álvarez - Serpa.

maryland started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Mateus - Onursay, Domínguez, Chanteiro - William, Gagliano, Exelmans, Jiménez, Creemers - Borda, Peón.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Atletico. maryland used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. After 13 minutes, maryland put themselves up 0 - 1, as W. Domínguez finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 19 minutes into the match, an alert S. Serpa bagged the ball for Atletico, levelling the score to 1 - 1. With 20 minutes gone, maryland had a free kick in a decent position. Despite this being a great chance for a shot, they tried a cheeky move intended to bypass the defence. However, A. Gagliano did not manage to connect with it cleanly and the ball went out. The counterattacks of Atletico were deadly and 21 minutes into the game, A. Burgos received a nice pass from the right flank, making it 2 - 1. Atletico's S. Serpa finished emphatically to make the score 3 -1 after 27 minutes, after the enigmatic A. López pulled a delightful long pass from his box of tricks to bypass the defence. 28 minutes in, an amazing pass from the left side resulted in a goal for the visitors, as D. Chanteiro anticipated the through ball and scored, reducing the deficit to 3 - 2. The visitors didn't give in and, after 33 minutes, M. Jiménez got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 3 - 3. 37 minutes in, Atletico's O. Andò received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Atletico had to make a substitution after 40 minutes. J. Áldozó limped off the field and was replaced by H. España. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 3. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by maryland, with 67 percent of the ball.

maryland took the lead 48 minutes into the game, making the score 3 - 4 after some elegant movement down the middle. D. Chanteiro was the scorer. maryland's R. Peón was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 64 minutes. With the scoreboard showing that 74 minutes had been played, maryland nearly put themselves up another goal after M. Jiménez came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. With 78 minutes played, N. Creemers 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. 82 minutes were showing on the scoreboard when Atletico's O. Andò received his second yellow card and was sent off. The maryland free kick 86 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of R. Exelmans, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 5! At this point, it was obvious that the players of maryland lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Possession in this half belonged to maryland, who controlled the ball 65 percent of the time.

Atletico's best player was G. Álvarez. H. España turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating maryland player was without a doubt A. Gagliano. On the other hand, W. Domínguez's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 5.