StarDragons 3 - 1 SCTV (392695393)

Clear skies welcomed the 30833 spectators who had made their way to Dragon Arena. Juliano Sanz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jesús Bercianos and Frédeau Verschelden. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for StarDragons. The following players took the field: Ivanov - van Middelkoop, Ilola, Doroszko, Vincenti - da Rocha, Assunção, Pésin, Rodrigues Ramalho, Langlois - Nobre.

SCTV started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Schwer - Rabushka, Mangini, Glapa - Chyłaszek, Sombreireiro, Azevedo, Kaczanowski, Sauvage - Pomponio, Mainis.

Today, StarDragons's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, A. Rodrigues Ramalho got himself booked. The manager of StarDragons was not happy. S. Mangini of SCTV seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 0 - 1 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by B. Kaczanowski. The home crowd cheered when, after 30 minutes, W. Glapa's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. The crowd was on its feet 32 minutes into the match, as StarDragons's B. Langlois found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. SCTV's M. Mainis got himself booked for a foul. Down the middle came V. Rabushka, making a fantastic play that nearly had SCTV take the lead after 40 minutes, but S. Ivanov preserved the tie. 41 minutes into the game, S. Sombreireiro almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by StarDragons, with 55 percent of the ball.

It was obvious that StarDragons had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. StarDragons broke through on the left 56 minutes into the game, with S. Nobre firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 2 - 1 lead. A free kick just outside of the visitors' penalty area after 67 minutes could have resulted in another goal, but E. Schwer got a hand out and tipped the ball over the bar. E. Doroszko's curling free kick almost found the goal for StarDragons, but the visitors' keeper somehow managed to get ahold of it. The coach of StarDragons was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 72 minutes, F. Teixeira Monteiro came on for A. Rodrigues Ramalho. SCTV's M. Chyłaszek was shown a yellow card after 75 minutes for slicing down an opponent. B. Langlois left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 77 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. V. Macedo was the replacement. Attacking on the wings was the choice for StarDragons, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. After 81 minutes, V. Macedo put StarDragons ahead 3 - 1 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. S. Ivanov made a brilliant save 83 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from P. Sauvage on the right hand side. StarDragons put in a good effort on the right, but I. van Middelkoop saw his volley fly wide of the mark 88 minutes into the game. Possession in this half belonged to StarDragons, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

M. da Rocha performed admirably for StarDragons. On the other hand, S. Nobre's play was disheartening. Most important SCTV player was M. Mainis. E. Schwer turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 1.