St-aff 4 - 3 Indians (394095950)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 2619 at St-Aff stadium today. Farid Haj-Kaleel was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jens Klintsjö and Teodor Voinea. A 4-3-3 alignment was the formation of choice for St-aff. The following players had been chosen: Guérin - Caín, Canevet, Rinnooy Kan, Sovero - Klenczner, Courtial, Cohen - Stahlman, Jasionowski, Mpaxevanatos.

Indians tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Bruffaerts - Willot, Cope, Figueroa - Pastor, Clavijo, Jacobo, Cabezas, Vitakić - Diéguez, Nilsen.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for St-aff. Indians demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. With 4 minutes played E. Cohen almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but the visitors' O. Bruffaerts was onto it, grabbing the would be breakthrough ball. L. Rinnooy Kan gave St-aff the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 The referee showed St-aff's H. Sovero the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Indians, as O. Bruffaerts left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. M. Ioniţă took his place on the field. A well placed corner kick from E. Cohen was followed by L. Rinnooy Kan's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for St-aff, the score now 2 - 0. With 40 minutes played, E. Cohen could have brought this one home for St-aff as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. 41 minutes into the game, I. Willot finished off a Indians left wing counterattack, making the score 2 - 1. The visitors refused to give in and, after 43 minutes, Z. Pastor evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 2 - 2 It was 2 - 2 at the break. St-aff had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

46 minutes into the game, Indians wanted to bring some new energy to their game. D. Vitakić gave A. Mădăraş a quick hug as he left the field. With 46 minutes having been played, his teammates looked on in disbelief as M. Klenczner thoughtlessly misplayed the ball, setting up Indians's P. Nilsen for an easy goal. 2 - 3. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for St-aff, but Y. Mpaxevanatos's shot went over the bar. E. Cabezas wanted to play on, but the Indians coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 60 minutes into the game by D. Drobnits. 64 minutes into the match, D. Drobnits came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. St-aff's Y. Mpaxevanatos was shown a yellow card after 70 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Against a lesser team, Indians could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 76 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. The home crowd cheered when, after 83 minutes, P. Nilsen's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. St-aff showed their counterattack skill 84 minutes into the match by breaking through the middle, with P. Jasionowski scoring uncontested for 3 - 3. St-aff claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

As neither team had managed to win, extra time was called. St-aff took the lead 101 minutes into the game by 4 - 3, as A. Caín elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. Extra time over, St-aff were the victors! Y. Mpaxevanatos performed admirably for St-aff. M. Guérin was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Indians player was without a doubt T. Diéguez. On the other hand, F. Figueroa's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 3.