aNxellos 0 - 8 sombras (376466050)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 12000 had shown up at aNxellos Arena for the match. Artur Eanes was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Abdellah Abed-Abdul and Fernando de Carvalho. aNxellos tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Starters: Hawks - Durán, Weldon, Schreiber, Trimble - Johnson, Hickey, Estrada, Boscolo - Barclay, Yeh.

A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for sombras. Lineup: Adam - Taka, Yusti, Depoorter - Bänziger, Frau, Dumas, Orsi - Rubin, Cordero, Borg.

Underestimation of the opposition made sombras players perform way below their normal capacity. sombras saw most attack opportunities on the wings. M. Rubin's tried to storm through the defence after 19 minutes, but R. Schreiber was just too fast to shake off and the rest of the defence got back to cover. sombras's A. Cordero managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 23 minutes. 0 - 1. M. Rubin increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. The referee signalled a penalty 29 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. A. Cordero knocked it home to make the score 0 - 3. Confident in their lead, sombras's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. It was obvious that sombras had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. After 31 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed F. Bänziger to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 0 - 4. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 4. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by sombras, with 74 percent of the ball.

62 minutes into the game a free kick by A. Cordero found its way through the home side's poorly assembled defensive formation, making sombras's lead 0 - 5. At that, A. Cordero was noted down for a hat trick! The sombras coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 65 minutes into the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Rubin from sombras a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 69 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 70 minutes, the sombras players received new instructions from their manager on how to keep in control of the game. I. Dumas wanted to play on, but the sombras coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by I. Butks. After a short break after 80 minutes, sombras seemed to change their tactical approach a bit. With 80 minutes played, sombras put themselves up 0 - 6 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was M. Rubin. A drive down the left side allowed B. Orsi to get in close and score another goal for sombras after 82 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 7. With 85 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed F. Bänziger of sombras to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 8. sombras enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 79 percent of possession.

P. Hickey performed admirably for aNxellos. On the other hand, O. Weldon's play was disheartening. The most dominating sombras player was without a doubt I. Butks. O. Adam was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 8.