tricolor 3 - 2 CHING (379735571)

Dark skies made the crowd of 52235 at Leonidas da Silva (Panela de Pressão) a little nervous, but the rain held off. Sergio Figueroa was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Petar Ljubović and Justs Vērnieks. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this São Paulo derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. tricolor had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players took the field: Harsch - Lima Silva, Simões, Costa Manso - Lenharo, Assumpção, Kamphuis, Aloisi - Matarangolo, Grosso, Amadei.

A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for CHING. Lineup: Michel - Zafrir, Roda, Zapata - Lorenčič, Małyska, Madl, Gama - Manzur, Diotalevi, Sala.

CHING seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. tricolor could have put themselves ahead after 11 minutes but G. Amadei missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when D. Lorenčič slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against I. Harsch, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. CHING's D. Lorenčič got himself booked for a foul. After 16 minutes of play, U. Costa Manso gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. 24 minutes into the match, O. Zafrir bent a free kick around the home team's defensive formation, leaving the keeper with no chance for a save. CHING had levelled the scoreline at 1 - 1. It was 1 - 1 at the break. tricolor claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

tricolor fans held their breath as J. Simões scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 2 - 1! CHING tied it all up, 76 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by L. Manzur, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 2 - 2. tricolor had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

As neither team was able to break the deadlock before the end of regular play, the teams took to the field again for extra time. They were singing the praises of R. Aloisi 98 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 3 - 2 to tricolor. What a dramatic win for tricolor! tricolor's best player was G. Amadei. I. Harsch was a disappointment, however. Most important CHING player was J. Sala. However, D. Gama made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 2.