Round 8 Review
FK Vardar 2 - 3 Feyenoord Rotterdam
6. Borut Šenk
30. Michel van der Kolk
45. Toni Madzovski
72. Zoranco Toleski
78. Cristian Daniel Kirita
This was a game that Feyenoord should have won comfortably, but lapses of concentration from the defence kept giving Vardar hope. Leading 2-0 with goals from Senk and van der Kolk and only seconds showing on the clock before half time, Senk passed the ball back to his keeper without looking only for Madzovski to be standing between him and the hapless Hogedoorn, who calmly passed the ball in. Senk must have wished the ground would open up and swallow him. Vardar scored again to equlise the scores with only 18 minutes left with a deft flick from Toleski to Yoyov's great cross. Kirita finally won the tie with a 35 yard free-kick which went in off the post with Bruce Grobelaar just an interested spectator. Despite not scoring Edgar Baretto was a constant threat.
Real Madrid CDF 3 - 6 Halmstad BK
4. Masumi Hujii
8. Victor Zubov
16. Marko Ivaštinović
24. Masumi Hujii
32. Agustín Ponce
36. Julio César Gutiérrez
48. Nery Alfaro
56. Victor Zubov
66. Julio César Gutiérrez
What a game, 9 goals, barely a tackle made all game but the referee still managed to dish out four yellow cards, although Ponce did get his for jumping into the small pocket of away fans when he scored. Victor Zubov showed again why he is the class forward in the division with his seventh and eighth goals and three more assists. It wont be too much longer before the 2nd division scouts are sniffing around to give him one more shot at the big time. At 5-1 down Madrid would have been forgiven for throwing in the towel, but they battled on bravely and scored two second half goals that were equally as good as any that Halmstad scored. Lidaks in the Madrid goal will have been dissapointed with his contribution and must improve otherwise Orome Man may consider giving Rui Martins his chance between the sticks.
Ottawa Fury 2 - 1 FC Skonto Riga
33. Andrey Danilovs
60. Emmanuel Amunike
70. Emmanuel Amunike
For an hour Skonta bossed this game and really should have been 3-0 up, but as it was they only scored one through Andrey Danilovs and they then appeared to run out of steam. The catalyst for this was a really nasty challenge from Gigonoli on Amunike just before the hour and this earned him a second yellow, although in truth it probably warranted a red on its own. One Aminuke recovered from this virtual assault, he seemed to be on a one man mission to win the game and scored two goals that showed what he is capable of when he puts his mind to it.
Fenerbahçe 2 - 1 Aalborg Boldspilklub
18. Armando da Silva Cabral
24. Isaac Tchigbo
78. Isaac Tchigbo
Aalborg continued their dreadful away form and lost again to a decent Fenerbahçe side, for who Tchigbo showed again what a lethal finisher he is. He had two chances and never looked like missing either to take his tally for the season to 7. Jean-Paul Rodrigues pulled the strings for Fenerbahçe who despite going behind to an 18th minute header from da Silva Cabral, never panicked and continued to play football. This despite a very robust approach from Aalborg wihich led to another 4 bookings, who now have the worst disciplinary record in the league with 16 seperate players being cautioned and 7 of those seeing red. The fines must really be mounting up.
Lokomotiv Moskva 2 - 3 Barcelona de Guayaquil
9. Martin Udovič
36. Nani
42. Chima Ehiorobo
54. Alexey Kuznetsov
60. Chima Ehiorobo
Barcelona made hard work of what should have been a relatively easy game against bottom of the table Lokomotiv. Stephan Ponte made things difficult for his team mates getting himself sent off for a nasty looking elbow on Kuznetsov as he scored his goal which resulted in a mass brawl. Once the referee and his assistants had regained order, he rightly sent of Ponte, but there were surely more candidates to go in the book other than Thierry Andrey, who's only crime seemed to be getting in the way of a nasty looking punch from Rui Marques who can count himself very lucky that none of the officials saw it. Chima Ehiorobo stayed clear of all the trouble and scored two really good goals from superb passes from the increasingly influential Benevides.
Bologna FC 1909 2 - 3 Real Zaragoza C.F.
49. Omar Bravo
63. Bovar Karim
80. Espen Askeladden
84. Akinyemi Obasi
90. Marko Sanvic
Top of the table Zaragoza are having to rely on their team spirit as again their discipline let them down. A 5th red card in 8 games is surely too many for a team looking to gain promotion to the 2nd division. Zaragoza have had five different players get Man of the match awards this season and eight different players have scored goals which shows how the team are coping when down to ten men. It wouls surely be easier to keep all ten on the pitch and win games more comfortably. Despite the 0-0 scoreline at half time, Zaragoza had enough chances to win this match before the break. But 0-0 it was and goals from Bravo his first of the season and Karim settled nerves, despite a neat finish from Askeladden giving a glimpse of what a great player he has been in the past. Obasi finished of a flowing passing move with a tap in from about a yard to secure the points, Bravo's form is very dissapointing from a player who was picked out as someone who would be one of the stars of the league.