749 punters turned up at COLISEO MINERO, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. RSL tactics
involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. Starters: Soulet - Coll, García Delgado, Elespuru, Dumont - Farinós, Tain,
Massó - Gardon, Vangelisti, Salamé.
A 4-3-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Rockers. They fielded: Santasus
- Válido, Eijkenaar, Ngoyi, Cheyne - Callow, Gruber, Ismail - Adolfsson, Meyers, Jenek.
The wings were the focus of
most of Rockers's attacks on this day. RSL took the lead in the 9th minute, after
Arturo Vangelisti's awkward, but ultimately successful, shot from the right. 1 - 0. RSL's
Brendon Gardon left the field after 20 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was
Javier Belda.
Erwan Dumont caused mayhem in his own defensive line with some mad dribbles within his own penalty zone, but Rockers's
Sleiman Ismail's shot went just wide. In the 26th minute, RSL's
Arturo Vangelisti received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. After 28 minutes, RSL's
Arturo Vangelisti fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. With 29 minutes played,
Alfeo Tain could have brought this one home for RSL as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. After
several obvious shirt pulling incidents, RSL's
Àlex Salamé got himself booked. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. RSL, bringing their ball possession to 58 percent,
dominated the battle.
Rockers mounted an inspired counterattack in the 50th minute, but
Sleiman Ismail was unable to convert from short range. After an industrious effort down the middle,
Arturo Vangelisti could have closed the game off in the 51st minute, but his finishing shot hit the post. In the 70th minute, RSL's
Albert Coll tried to nail the coffin shut, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. The
visitors refused to give up and, in the 75th minute,
Jozef Meyers scored the tying 1 - 1 goal as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. When
Àlex Salamé made yet another studs-first tackle in the game's 78th minute, the referee was obliged to book the RSL player for the second
time, sending him off the pitch. RSL dictated play, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.
RSL's top performer
was clearly
Enrique Farinós.
Arturo Vangelisti on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Rockers player was without a doubt
Ted Eijkenaar. On the other hand,
Wilhelm Gruber's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 1.
