Star 1 - 4 SPORTING (393010873)

A scorching day at Azadi, where 1699 spectators were in place for today's match. Morgan Édmond was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Angel Amadeo De Leon and Thomas Weiss. Star tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Hervé - Civelek, Richter, Prévost, Alikadić - Truszczyński, An'amzadeh, Mendelevas, Kambouzia - Stendahl, Borch.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for SPORTING. Lineup: Jean-Baptiste - Krakowiak, Meinecke, Bolesta, Buaron - Sarek, Ibn-Habib, Coolen, Ruda - Sossai, Zapletal.

It was obvious that Star were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. SPORTING were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. M. Mendelevas caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 3 minutes. This gave Star the 1 - 0 lead. Attacking on the wings was the choice for SPORTING, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. SPORTING were close to putting the equaliser away after 8 minutes as the opposing defence lost control of the ball to G. Zapletal in a scuffle towards the left of the goal, but in the end the ball was cleared over the dead ball line. Z. Bahadorifar was called on to replace Star's B. An'amzadeh after 23 minutes following a nasty collision. G. Zapletal tied the game at 1 - 1 after 29 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. After 32 minutes Star's F. Hervé contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. Halftime score was 1 - 1. SPORTING had most of the ball, with 63 percent of possession.

The intense heat forced Z. Bahadorifar into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. The terraces were silenced after 64 minutes when SPORTING's E. Meinecke put the guests ahead 1 - 2, following an attack on the right. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Star manager used a brief break in play after 70 minutes to give the players new directives. 78 minutes in, SPORTING's E. Coolen received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. U. Ibn-Habib increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 1 - 3. The sunny day didn't make things easy for S. Truszczyński who didn't seem his usual powerful self on the pitch. After 86 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for A. Buaron who increased SPORTING's lead to 1 - 4. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by SPORTING, with 65 percent of the ball.

Star's top performer was clearly E. Stendahl. Z. Bahadorifar on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important SPORTING player was G. Sossai. On the other hand, D. Krakowiak's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 4.