| South Melbourne 1 - 3 Necaxa |
| South Melbourne 20 CHRIS JONES 2 STEVE IOSFIDIS 3 FAUSTO DE AMICIS 4 NICK ORLIC 5 CON BLATSIS 6 DAVID CLARKSON 7 STEVE PANOPOULOS 8 VAUGHAN COVENEY 9 PAUL TRIMBOLI (C) 11 JOHN ANASTASIADIS 12 RICHIE ALAGICH |
Necaxa 1 HUGO PINEDA 2 SALVADOR CABRERA 3 SERGIO ALMAGUER 7 ALEX AGUINAGA (C) 8 LUIS PEREZ 9 AGUSTIN DELGADO 10 MARKUS LOPEZ 12 HERNAN VIGNA 18 JOSE MILIAN 19 CRISTIAN MONTECINOS 20 JOSE HIGAREDA |
SUBSTITUTES USED Michael CURCIJA George GOUTZIOULIS Jim TSEKINIS |
SUBSTITUTES USED Edgar OLIVA Ignacio AMBRIZ Sergio VAZQUEZ |
GOALS ANASTASIADIS 48'+ |
GOALS MONTECINOS 19' (pen) DELGADO 29' CABRERA 79' (pen) |
| CARDS IOSIFIDIS yellow ORLIC yellow |
CARDS VIGNA yellow MILIAN yellow |
MATCH REPORT
It was once again a strong display by the outsiders South Melbourne - but unfortunately not strong enough, and Mexican team Necaxa kept alive their hopes of entering the final by winning 3 goals to 1, with 2 of their goals coming from penalties. Chilean striker Cristian Montecinos got the first after 19 minutes to put Necaxa ahead, but didn't have the same luck 4 minutes later when South goalkeeper Chris Jones kept his effort out. Agustin Delgado increased the lead only 6 minutes later and Necaxa thought they had an easy ride ahead. But virtually on the stroke of half-time veteran striker John Anastasiadis scored South's first goal of the tournament and the Australians hopes of equalising were kept alive.
In the second half those hopes were almost fulfilled by a string of chances, but all unfortunately came to nothing. Then, in the 79th minute in the virtually abandoned Maracaná, Necaxa were awarded another penalty and this time Salvador Cabrera tucked it neatly away.
South Melbourne are the second club to definitely not make it to the finals, but are sure to play with as much grit in their final game against Manchester United as they have in their 2 recent games. Necaxa still have a chance of making it to the Grand Final if they beat Vasco on Tuesday.