Pibe 3 - 4 Dragons (392842194)

33550 punters turned up at Maximux Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Paul Reffke was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hans-Christian Ludwigsburg and Svend Holm Nielsen. Pibe had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Sayhan - Cârlan, Beckenbauer, Kesiár - Yong Chi, Pescaru, Rolff, Durrant, Dincă - Marinello, Arno.

Dragons tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Ursei - Tardif, Cherecheş, Łamasz - Stolar, Voicu, Constantin, Goşa, Cătună - Sârbu, Butoi.

The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave V. Beckenbauer from Pibe a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 23 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The player down was I. Sârbu. The Dragons bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. A penalty was given after 36 minutes, allowing the visitors to gain the lead: 0 - 1. I. Constantin was the scorer. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 37 minutes into the match, an alert W. Yong Chi bagged the ball for Pibe, levelling the score to 1 - 1. They were singing the praises of W. Yong Chi 39 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 2 - 1 to Pibe. After 41 minutes, the visitors tied it up at 2 - 2 when a fantastic pass from the left was finished off by Ş. Voicu. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Dragons, with 52 percent of the ball.

Always a threat, I. Sârbu tore past his marker and placed the ball right at the feet of the waiting I. Butoi who should have easily scored for Dragons, but the ball went wide. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, W. Yong Chi scored for Pibe putting them ahead 3 - 2, after 54 minutes. That made three goals for W. Yong Chi and he was marked down for the hat trick. Dragons tied it all up, 60 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by T. Stolar, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 3 - 3. The guests almost went up by a goal after 65 minutes when C. Cherecheş came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. After 66 minutes, the Dragons coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving C. Cherecheş off the field. O. Marinică took his place. As the 75 minute mark approached, the Pibe coach decided it was time for a substitution. T. Rolff reluctantly made way for G. Dincă on the pitch. Neither team were able to dominate possession this half.

As neither team had managed to win, extra time was called. Pibe were very close to putting themselves one up after 92 minutes as R. Dincă got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Pibe's V. Beckenbauer had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 95 minutes having been played. A. Bavshin was the replacement. The referee showed Dragons's D. Cătună the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 3 - 4 was the score with 97 minutes played, after I. Sârbu cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Dragons. Game over, Dragons win! The most dominating Pibe player was without a doubt C. Marinello. However, R. Dincă made a disastrous appearance. Most important Dragons player was I. Butoi. D. Cătună turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 4.