Gumball 5 - 1 CTD (377903294)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and ARA Stadium saw a crowd turnout of 2560. Eryk Sliwinski was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jérôme Ledanois and Eugenio Martínez Portoles. Gumball started off with a 4-3-3 lineup. They fielded: Entwistle - Ekeberg, Constantinescu, Jack, Fiore - Sambrook, Kendall, Ros - Dempsey, Ronin, Sağar.

CTD had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Huber - Metzler, Richard, Öztürk - Blagojević, Eller, Pöschl, Vogel, Kirchmayr - Smajlovič, Fischer.

Gumball clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. A well placed corner kick from L. Fischer was followed by S. Kirchmayr's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for CTD, the score now 0 - 1. After 36 minutes of play, P. Kendall evened things up for Gumball with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 1 - 1. 38 minutes into the game, T. Pöschl had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came R. Baltić. At 40 minutes played, D. Jack came in from the right with the intention of giving Gumball the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. Gumball fans held their breath as B. Sağar scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 2 - 1! Halftime score was 2 - 1. Gumball had most of the ball, with 64 percent of possession.

E. Constantinescu had a fantastic opportunity to put Gumball up another goal 47 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. The Gumball free kick 65 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of D. Sambrook, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 1! At this point, it was obvious that the players of Gumball lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. With 67 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, A. Ekeberg needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. A. Dempsey squirmed through their central defence after 79 minutes, increasing the lead to 4 - 1. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Gumball's A. Fiore increasing the lead to 5 - 1. Gumball enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 68 percent of possession.

Gumball's top performer was clearly A. Ros. A. Fiore on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important CTD player was S. Vogel. On the other hand, J. Huber's play was disheartening. The match ends 5 - 1.