Rockhill 3 - 1 Darwins (374449306)

A scorching day at The Geyser White Stadium, where 66026 spectators were in place for today's match. Arnold Richiger was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alexander Parmeggiani and Sakhon Kongudom. Rockhill decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Tambla - Wild, Aloisio - Duparcq, Rautakorpi, Casile, Fauchard, Rumenov - Martin, Bustamante, Pereira.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Darwins. Starters: Myers - Dejaeghere, Dawson, Čistiakovas, Williams - Ataide, MacTary, Muñiz, Wuyts - Schultheiss, Cortès.

Rockhill took a creative approach on the field. Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Darwins. 30 minutes into the game, Darwins seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. Rockhill's A. Pereira made use of his speed to get free of the defence, but he still couldn't get a shot off 34 minutes into the match. With 35 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as N. Fauchard flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. A. Pereira's curling free kick almost found the goal for Rockhill, but the visitors' keeper somehow managed to get ahold of it. R. Muñiz was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Darwins counterattack from the left after 37 minutes. His neat finish made the score 1 - 1. The corner kick from A. Pereira was powerfully met by the head of D. Duparcq to make the score 2 - 1. It was 2 - 1 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rockhill, with 72 percent of the ball.

A review of the gameplan helped Darwins get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. Darwins's counterattack was impressive and was only stopped by a shocking foul. Somehow, the referee's cards remained in his pocket - a terrible decision! D. Dawson's resulting free kick was easily saved by the keeper. Darwins's J. Dejaeghere was shown a yellow card after 54 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Rockhill's E. Wild increased the lead to 3 - 1, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 58 minutes. The coach of Rockhill was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 61 minutes, L. Bonnaud came on for M. Bustamante. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Rockhill coach let O. Volovski replace N. Fauchard after 61 minutes. 61 minutes into the game, Darwins seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to poor. After 65 minutes, the Rockhill players received new instructions from their manager on how to keep in control of the game. A. Martin wanted to play on, but the Rockhill coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by M. Goulder. In an effort to secure the lead, Rockhill changed their tactic after 82 minutes. Rockhill claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 79 percent.

Rockhill's best player was M. Tambla. M. Goulder turned in a dismal performance, however. F. Cortès performed admirably for Darwins. L. Williams was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.