Phoenix 1 - 4 TIESTO (393425068)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 60639 at The Thunder Dome today. Scotty George was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Thierry Eschard and Brian Evans. Phoenix decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Văcaru - Maquet, Cordea, Di Marino - Tarazona, Sarı, Noah, Cerda, van Schalen - Canegallo, Campetella.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for TIESTO. Starters: Marra - Andersen, Cascais, Johnson - Sagne, Granados, Peña, Eisfeld, Aymard - Casal, Leonhardt.

TIESTO were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Making his way up the middle 7 minutes into the match, O. Canegallo almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert B. Marra blocked it to keep the score level. With 9 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. R. Eisfeld put the ball away for 0 - 1. Attacking on the wings was the choice for TIESTO, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. With 12 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed C. Casal of TIESTO to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 2. By now, the players in TIESTO felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Phoenix's D. Maquet was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 14 minutes. With 17 minutes played, Phoenix's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to O. Canegallo he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 2. It was a fine day for R. van Schalen on his wing, his cross pass to J. Tarazona was especially delicate 18 minutes into the game, but the keeper saved. Halftime score was 1 - 2. Phoenix claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

With 47 minutes played, after a good run down the left, J. Tarazona went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. TIESTO's M. Peña made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 49 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender slid in and cleared the ball off the line. 62 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 1 - 3 as M. Peña finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. F. Campetella challenged the visitors' central defence eagerly, producing a good chance 72 minutes into the game as he went for a through ball. But, as so many times before, the guests' defensive efforts got the best of it. TIESTO almost scored after a counterattack 73 minutes into the match, but O. Granados took a shot from the left that landed harmlessly in the side of the net. S. Leonhardt of TIESTO took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 75 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 4. The visitors almost increased their lead after 77 minutes when a sweetly hit free kick looked like it was heading for the top corner. However the keeper managed to get a fingertip to it, sending it over the bar. Phoenix enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

The most dominating Phoenix player was without a doubt O. Canegallo. I. Văcaru was a disappointment, however. Most important TIESTO player was O. Aymard. M. Cascais on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 4.