Zv 4 - 0 Sausiņi (381505027)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 64370 to ZvaniTAJS MAHAL. Jochen Posipal was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Uwe Gundacker and Massimiliano Diamante. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Zv. Starters: Benedetto - Hayal, Yermiyan, García Peñuela, Barbu - Zainea, Gregnanin, Jones, Welling - Deuring, Ponce.

Sausiņi started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Nikolajevs - Hawes, Ķikusts, Girth - Wauthier, Barons, Enītis, Driņķis, Segal - Pastors, Tāls.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Zv. The guests almost went up by a goal after 20 minutes when H. Girth came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. Zv mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 22 minutes, but L. Barbu was unable to convert from short range. Zv took the lead after 23 minutes as a result of F. Ponce's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. The visitors' B. Hawes came close to levelling the score after 25 minutes with a free kick that went just wide of the top left corner. K. Deuring was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Zv counterattack from the left after 26 minutes. His neat finish made the score 2 - 0. The coach of Zv was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 27 minutes, O. Ščuka came on for F. Ponce. The players of Zv now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave H. Girth from Sausiņi a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 30 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! C. Welling has acquired a talent for predicting the movements of the opposing defence over the years and this almost resulted in a goal 38 minutes into the match. There was concern in the stands when, at the 40 minute mark, Sausiņi's S. Segal hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. Halftime score was 2 - 0. Sausiņi enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

L. Barbu stunned the crowd with a brilliant counterattack from the left, giving Zv the goal to make it 3 - 0. Zv will have to do without J. Benedetto for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 66 minute mark. He was substituted by F. Beira Santos. With 78 minutes played, Zv put themselves up 4 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to J. García Peñuela, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Sausiņi, with 57 percent of the ball.

Zv's best player was K. Deuring. O. Ščuka was a disappointment, however. Sausiņi's top performer was clearly Ē. Tāls. O. Nikolajevs on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 0.