champions 3 - 2 ManUtd (393779781)

Clouds darkened the skies at 9197 Arena as 75000 spectators turned up for the match. Freddie Andersson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Rowan Kraak and Daniel Cambronero. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for champions. They fielded: Kamer - van Woensel, Oketola, Dzepanov - Bogatinovski, Mirchevski, Kostov, Pavlovski, Shllaki - Pandır, Gozinski.

ManUtd decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Lineup: Baiona - Melovski, Araujo - Sekkak, Idrizi, Steigerwald, Chadikoski, Zadęcki - Meckelfeld, Fredriksson, Boesze.

Always quick and a menace to his opponents, U. Shllaki was very close to getting through after 25 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to G. Mirchevski, but the champions player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! A cross coming in on the right hand side left D. Boesze alone in front of the goal after 27 minutes but his shot was woeful. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. J. Oketola squirmed through their central defence after 33 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. ManUtd had a fair chance to reply after 35 minutes due to some fine moves down the left, but in the end D. Boesze was slow to keep up with the play and was unable to make it into the penalty box to apply a finish. ManUtd's L. Fredriksson had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 38 minutes having been played. F. Londo was the replacement. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, L. Chadikoski took over the role of being the ManUtd captain. Halftime score was 2 - 0. champions had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

In an effort to secure the lead, champions changed their tactic after 60 minutes. After 70 minutes, ManUtd switched N. Melovski with B. Lovach, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. In the lead, champions adjusted their style of play with 70 minutes gone. After a short break after 70 minutes, champions seemed to change their tactical approach a bit. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of champions to 3 - 0 as B. Bogatinovski finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. The visitors got one back when P. Zadęcki finished off a pass from the left and scored after 79 minutes. 3 - 1 was the score. Ater 80 minutes D. Boesze seized on an opportunistic attack from the right, and scored for ManUtd making it 3 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by champions, with 58 percent of the ball.

champions's best player was J. Kamer. G. van Woensel on the other hand, had a terrible day. ManUtd's top performer was clearly L. Chadikoski. On the other hand, B. Lovach's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 2.