Noroeste 2 - 1 MANOS (391539763)

The crowd of 42278 turning up at Alfredo de Castilho today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Bjørn Bjørndal was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Francis Nuzillard and Bartosz Mielech. A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Noroeste. They fielded: Vignes - Serfőző, Aschaber - Valdés Saavedra, Nour, Mulder, Borreguero, Anaia - Seco, Cerqueira, Curado.

MANOS tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Kammerloher - Pelo, Goyaes, Candida - Sandvik, Gabryš, Bodmann, Sobuage, Mehdiyev - Koeckeis, Bogatyr.

26 minutes into the game, T. Koeckeis almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. A. Serfőző, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. MANOS's A. Pelo left the field after 38 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was C. Uferrand. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when D. Bodmann slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against F. Vignes, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. Many thought B. Valdés Saavedra ought to have been awarded a penalty 43 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around B. Kammerloher after a determined run through the middle. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. MANOS enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 53 percent of possession.

They were singing the praises of L. Seco 50 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 1 - 0 to Noroeste. D. Cerqueira was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. MANOS tied it all up, 59 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by I. Gabryš, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 1 - 1. MANOS's C. Uferrand got himself booked for a foul. After 64 minutes of play, L. Seco gave the home team a 2 - 1 lead after an attack coming in from the right. After 76 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by L. Seco might have resulted in another goal for Noroeste. However, B. Kammerloher made a spectacular save. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Noroeste coach let F. Obregón replace Ó. Borreguero after 77 minutes. Possession in this half belonged to MANOS, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

The most dominating Noroeste player was without a doubt F. Vignes. However, B. Valdés Saavedra made a disastrous appearance. Most important MANOS player was L. Bogatyr. B. Kammerloher was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 1.