Hongkong 2 - 0 Cooper (392541701)

1230 spectators arrived at King Of The Ring, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Carlos José Celiz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dimitris Schinas and Ramón Ismael Rosa. A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Hongkong. The following players had been chosen: Troya - Mačič, Mijares - Pernelle, Hansson, Lepp, Maroto, Stern - Palmskog, Palomino, Picança.

Cooper tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Otterspeer - Pietropaolo, Falix, Gade, Wittenbol, Zhelezko - van Baerle, Wilson, Kleisterlee, Wester - Zocconali.

Hongkong took a creative approach on the field. Pressing was the tactic of the day for Cooper. At this time in the match, Cooper were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Maroto from Hongkong a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 15 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when E. Kleisterlee was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 21 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! M. Stern of Hongkong seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 1 - 0 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by A. Maroto. G. Picança earned a rousing chorus of cheers from his fans as he seemed to come out of nowhere after 40 minutes to intercept the ball and put it in the back of the net for Hongkong. 2 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Hongkong lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Cooper pressed their opponents, causing the game to be a bit of a stalemate at times. With things not going too well on the field, the Cooper coach made the decision to swap the positions of P. Wilson and R. Gade with 44 minutes played. 2 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Hongkong, with 56 percent of the ball.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Cooper's R. Gade was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. S. Paulson was given a chance to change things around. The coach of Hongkong was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 50 minutes, J. Mulero came on for S. Troya. 69 minutes into the match, A. Maroto could have extended the lead, but his powerful free kick went just over the bar. J. Mulero wanted to play on, but the Hongkong coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 70 minutes into the game by J. Clerbois. With 77 minutes played, E. Wittenbol had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot flew harmlessly into the side-netting of the goal. 78 minutes in, Hongkong's I. Mačič received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. C. Palomino of Hongkong received a yellow card after 82 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Hongkong enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 53 percent of possession.

Hongkong's top performer was clearly G. Picança. M. Lepp on the other hand, had a terrible day. Cooper's best player was E. Wittenbol. Y. Zhelezko turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.