Result: 3-0
Attendance: 16,998 (Record attendance for Adelaide United. Congratulations!)
Crowded House: Watching on TV, the atmosphere at the packed out ground looked amazing. For the 90 minutes, the drums thundered and the fan sang. It was electric. The other codes can only dream of international nights like this.
Man of the Match: Fabian Barbiero. The backup player for the Reds was excellent. Actually he was outstanding. Rivaldo had a rather quiet night and this was mainly due to the work of Barbiero and Reid. Barbiero’s distribution was also generally good which was critical otherwise Adelaide would have been under pressure the entire game. He capped his performance with a goal, scrambling home the ball after a Travis Dodd knock down.
Special Mentions: The very young Adelaide defenders, as well as the older Costanzo, all deserve a mention. Bunyodkor only really had one clear-cut chance and Galekovic had a pretty quite night which was a testament to the performance of the defenders. Cassio for a superb second half performance, setting up all three goals. The Brazilian looked a little overawed the first half, rarely making his trademark runs or putting quality balls into the box. He really stood up in the second and his direct running proved to be the avenue to goal. And Cristiano for running himself into the ground. Playing the thankless role of the lone striker, he was often left isolated when the Uzbeks got on top in terms of possession. He capped his night off with a very coolly taken and very deserved penalty.
Missing in Action: No one!
Adelaide Verdict: This tie is far from over. The Uzbeks stream-rolled Saipa 5-1 at home. But United are a team that has only conceded 2 goals in the whole tournament. One away goal should seal the tie. We should not underestimate the gulf that should exist between the two sides. Rivaldo alone is being paid 4 times the entire salary of the Adelaide team. This should have been a no contest. Adelaide is riding a dream but I don’t want this to sound like they are getting lucky against their rich opponents. There are elements of luck no doubt but when you constrict the opponent to just one clear-cut chance in 90 minutes of football, it is clear that the result has been achieved through hard-work and discipline.
