Tacuense 3 - 3 Atl. (382891852)

42195 punters turned up at Tacuense Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Fredrik Bäckgård was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Manuel Aceña and Gerwazy Kobielarz. Tacuense decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Nedeljković - Densborn, Haase - Calis, Serrano, Toledo, Fernández Romero, Corbu - Jourdan, Caunedo, Valero Giménez.

Atl. had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. They fielded: Erdağ - Frechilla, Kallström - Aleksandrov, Jørgensen, García Carpintero, Aldenhoven, Cesarczyk - Edendahl, Brüll, Rakonczai.

Tacuense mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Tacuense, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. F. Toledo caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 4 minutes. This gave Tacuense the 1 - 0 lead. Atl.'s V. Frechilla got himself booked for a foul. A. Cesarczyk finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 1 - 1 14 minutes into the match. The Tacuense free kick 16 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of R. Caunedo, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 2 - 1! 2 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Tacuense, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

With 48 minutes played, the excellent ball from the wing by Tacuense's P. Corbu reached J. Valero Giménez's head, and he is not one to miss such an opportunity - 3 - 1. After 59 minutes, speedy P. Edendahl dashed past his marker, making plenty of room for the second wave of attack. However, J. Brüll failed to score. With 82 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, Atl. showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 3 - 2 when J. Brüll got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. With 83 minutes played, F. Toledo of Tacuense fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 84 minutes into the game Atl.'s T. Aleksandrov found a gap in the home side's central defence and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 3 - 3. Down the middle came E. Aldenhoven, making a fantastic play that nearly had Atl. take the lead after 85 minutes, but B. Nedeljković preserved the tie. V. Frechilla knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Atl. player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. Unfortunately for Tacuense, P. Corbu was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. H. Santos-Kilger replaced him. Tacuense claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

The most dominating Tacuense player was without a doubt J. Serrano. However, B. Nedeljković made a disastrous appearance. Atl.'s best player was B. Jørgensen. On the other hand, T. Aleksandrov's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 3.