Achiken 2 - 3 Zürich (378213479)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 3633 to Aichiken. Niklas Wiker was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Loris Sikes and Frank Henriksson. Achiken tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: 上野 (Ueno) - 和田 (Wada), Tsunoda, 千葉 (Chiba) - Marcolin, 山本 (Yamamoto), Ogi, 西田 (Nishida), Camara - Fujimaki, Ulmanis.

Zürich had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Guida - Bunkofer, Kelcher, Moss - Gablinger, Duport, Brigger, Raulet, Koehl - Herrich, Travers.

Achiken tried to focus their attacks down the middle. With 9 minutes played, Zürich's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to N. Herrich he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 0 - 1. With 16 minutes played, Zürich put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was F. Travers. Confident in their lead, Zürich's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Y. Fujimaki's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 17 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to O. Ulmanis who knocked it in for Achiken. 1 - 2! The referee showed Achiken's H. Camara the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Zürich were forced into a substitution as J. Bunkofer couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing P. Zacharis to come in off the bench. 直. 千葉 (Chiba) charged down the left and had a wonderful opportunity to score the equaliser for Achiken, but the shot went well wide of the goal. Some fine movement on the left led to a Zürich goal after 35 minutes, making it 1 - 3. C. Koehl was noted down as the scorer. 1 - 3 was the halftime score. Achiken had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

Usually a powerful player on the field, O. Ulmanis looked kind of pale and tired under the hot sun. Y. Fujimaki did everything he could to get one back for his Achiken, but keeper K. Guida denied him with a spectacular block. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when 裕. 西田 (Nishida) scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why H. Camara found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Achiken, with 57 percent of the ball.

Achiken's best player was H. Camara. On the other hand, 威. 山本 (Yamamoto)'s play was disheartening. P. Zacharis performed admirably for Zürich. However, J. Kelcher made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 3.