f-g-p 0 - 8 Auckland (378982248)

Clouds darkened the skies at Letzigrund as 3779 spectators turned up for the match. Timon Piubellini was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Wesley Glover and Mike Haag. f-g-p tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Modica - Ramseyer, von Mecklenburg, Reimers - Rusch, Neuhoser, Petermann, Huismann, Delpino - Disler, Hossler.

Auckland had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Kankaanniemi - Pittard, Radcliffe, Snape - Spendlove, St John, Richards, Eames, Milner - Cumberworth, Homer.

Auckland were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Players in Auckland heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The guests took the lead 21 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in R. St John scoring to make it 0 - 1. The referee showed Auckland's M. Spendlove the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 33 minutes, Auckland's T. Cumberworth burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. 34 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 3 as I. Snape finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. After this, you could see that the players of Auckland were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. 42 minutes in, f-g-p's S. Delpino received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. R. Radcliffe of Auckland took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 43 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 4. It was 0 - 4 at the break. Auckland claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 68 percent.

With 76 minutes played, Auckland put themselves up 0 - 5 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was O. Milner. 81 minutes into the game Q. Hossler could see that the opposing goalie was out of position and tried an unexpected lob that the keeper just barely reached. The rebound went to S. Rusch who failed to hit the target. After 82 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed R. St John to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 6. After 84 minutes, the defensive line of f-g-p created a counterattack through the middle that gave Q. Hossler a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Auckland were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. Auckland increased their lead after 86 minutes when O. Milner broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 7, much to the home crowd's dismay. With 87 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed T. Cumberworth of Auckland to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 8. Possession in this half belonged to Auckland, who controlled the ball 71 percent of the time.

Most important f-g-p player was S. Huismann. T. Disler was a disappointment, however. Auckland's best player was M. Spendlove. I. Snape turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 8.