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12802 spectators had come to socceroo Arena this cloudy day. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for socceroos. The following players took the field: Alcazaba - Marín Valle, Pompei, Sánchez Saviñón - Dekkers, Biarge, Delgado, Olofsson, Marcu - Pfaffenzeller, Kotinurmi.Alcaudetense had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Abenda - Mulargia, Sabatino, Maślankowski - Kühnlein, Gerc, Montes de Oca, Köhrer-Klees, Fernández Roces - Prados, Benado.
The strategy for socceroos on this day was to use their ability to press. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Alcaudetense's Fryderyk Maślankowski got himself booked. At this time in the match, socceroos was using their skill at pressing to successfully put pressure on their opponents. Yossef Benado of Alcaudetense was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The home crowd was not impressed by the fancy moves of Alcaudetense's Bartosz Gerc after 36 minutes. He converted a pass from the left for a goal, resulting in the visitors taking the 0 - 1 lead. After 40 minutes, Ignacio Delgado got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn't get the shot away. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Alcaudetense held the ball, with a clear 56 percent of possession.
A series of fine plays up the middle should have led to a goal for socceroos, but Kalle-Matti Kotinurmi's shot went over the bar. Despite having a free kick in a decent position 61 minutes in, Alcaudetense tried a variation that brought the ball through to the other end of the penalty area. However, Diego Prados did not manage to connect with it, as his team mates had hoped, and the ball went out. Alcaudetense's Hugo Kühnlein was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - Yossef Benado managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 0 - 2 after 74 minutes. The structure of the game started to change as Alcaudetense decided to pull back and meet their opponents in their own half. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the socceroos manager used a brief break in play after 75 minutes to give the players new directives. After 75 minutes, socceroos used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. Yossef Benado came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle, but he lifted the ball overSaúl Alcazaba and it was a little too high and hit the bar. socceroos's Ignacio Delgado was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 83 minutes. After 84 minutes, Alcaudetense's Cornelius Köhrer-Klees burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. A well-placed free kick brought the home crowd new hope. Constantin Marcu reduced the away team's lead to 1 - 3. Alcaudetense enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.
socceroos's top performer was clearly Artur Pfaffenzeller. Francesc Xavier Sánchez Saviñón on the other hand, had a terrible day. Alcaudetense's best player was Yossef Benado. On the other hand, Hugo Kühnlein's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 3.
Highlights
0 - 1 | Bartosz Gerc | 36' |
0 - 2 | Yossef Benado | 74' |
0 - 3 | Cornelius Köhrer-Klees | 84' |
1 - 3 | Constantin Marcu | 85' |
Fryderyk Maślankowski | 6' | |
Yossef Benado | 16' | |
Ignacio Delgado | 83' | |
Kees Dekkers Normal Offensive | 75' | |
Constantin Marcu Normal Offensive | 75' |