Warcaft 0 - 3 Luigira (379916749)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 1014 at Warcaft Arena today. Jonas R. Lönnland was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mika Palkinen and Toke Høj. Warcaft tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Mocanu - Wojtuń, Sąpek, Kiba, Kutsche-Streubel - Bálint, Pinto, Reiwer, Korszeń, Bugno - Knobloch.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Luigira. The following players had been chosen: Moratti - Verola, Cambula, Dossobuono - Del Rosso, Galardini, Ughetto, Schirru, Termali - Cristiano, Mantenuto.

Today, Warcaft's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 17 minutes allowed S. Del Rosso to score for Luigira. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. The home crowd cheered when, after 27 minutes, S. Cristiano's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. Good work by the Warcaft defensive line after 28 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found J. Pinto alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. Warcaft were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. After 42 minutes, Luigira's S. Cristiano burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Luigira, with 61 percent of the ball.

V. Termali wanted to play on, but the Luigira coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by D. Piacentini. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, E. Ughetto took over the role of being the Luigira captain. The coach of Luigira was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 50 minutes, S. Feliciano came on for U. Galardini. The Luigira players could smell victory in the air. L. Schirru wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for D. Rossignoli after 55 minutes. After 56 minutes of game time, S. Del Rosso had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but D. Mocanu was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. With 57 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed A. Mantenuto of Luigira to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 3. The Luigira coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 70 minutes into the game. V. Verola could have put his team up another goal 71 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. A. Mantenuto came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over D. Mocanu but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. P. Knobloch of Warcaft was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Luigira claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

The most dominating Warcaft player was without a doubt S. Bálint. D. Mocanu on the other hand, had a terrible day. S. Cristiano performed admirably for Luigira. On the other hand, D. Piacentini's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 3.