Blues 3 - 1 Rage (393600227)

65000 spectators arrived at Penny Arcade, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Rimvidas Girkantas was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Belmiro Thompson and Ángel Gómez. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Blues. Lineup: Uricchio - Frin, Alexandre, Beardmore - Lecca, Breden, Klauser, Quillevère, Rosa - Staicu, Glargaard.

Rage started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Vučetić - Guillemota, Pautrot, Parashchenko, Steinwender - Savu, Nevbahar, Rubagotti, Escher - van Hanegem, Carpentier.

Blues mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Rage. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Blues, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. After a fine move down the middle C. Staicu nearly gave the home side a goal after 2 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Rage's counterattacks created a good chance for J. Carpentier on the right after 3 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. 29 minutes into the game, P. Steinwender finished off a Rage left wing counterattack, making the score 0 - 1. Blues had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. After 34 minutes of play, T. Glargaard evened things up for Blues with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 1 - 1. Rage's S. van Hanegem was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 36 minutes. Blues were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Rage's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 38 minutes gone, but F. Pautrot's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Blues, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

With 47 minutes played C. Staicu almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. They were singing the praises of S. Beardmore 63 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 Blues. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Rage manager used a brief break in play after 70 minutes to give the players new directives. The Rage coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. After 70 minutes, Rage used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. The bench was restless, and with 70 minutes passed Rage's coach gave U. Stohrer the opportunity the player had been hoping for. C. Escher reluctantly left the field. Blues solidified their lead at the 72 minute mark, as C. Staicu dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 1. After 82 minutes, Blues began to show their lack of experience and they threatened to wilt under the heavy pressure from their opposition. Blues had most of the ball, with 64 percent of possession.

V. Breden performed admirably for Blues. H. Rosa was a disappointment, however. Rage's top performer was clearly S. van Hanegem. P. Steinwender turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 1.