It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 22002 that came out to
EL FORTIN.
Torsten Meisterfeld was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Dejan Fellner and
Przemysław Ekert.
Materazzi tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination.
The following players took the field: Gillès de Pélichy - de Carvalho, Beljaars, Öhlius - Duyndam, Stilianopoulos, Rubiato, Rajoy - Beneventano, Villafuerte, Rojas.
Ludos started off with a 4-5-1 lineup.
Starters: Garibaldi - Städtli, Morton, Parrinha, Moreno Vidal - Arfelis, Valle, Koschwitz, Corrius, Moyano Pineda - Pantelidis.
Materazzi used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings.
Ludos saw most attack opportunities on the wings.
At 16 minutes played,
H. Villafuerte came in from the right with the intention of giving Materazzi the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar.
J. Gillès de Pélichy looked great 20 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors'
F. Arfelis.
After a fine move down the middle
H. Rubiato nearly gave the home side a goal after 27 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide.
H. Rubiato caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 36 minutes. This gave Materazzi the 1 - 0 lead.
Things were going to get worse for the visitors.
I. Beljaars squirmed through their central defence after 38 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0.
Halftime score was 2 - 0.
Possession in this half belonged to Materazzi, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.
M. Öhlius didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play.
Materazzi were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally.
Materazzi solidified their lead at the 67 minute mark, as
M. Beneventano dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0.
By now, the players in Materazzi felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward.
78 minutes into the match, Ludos replied and reduced the lead to 3 - 1.
F. Arfelis scored on a marvellous cross pass coming in from the left.
The bench was restless, and with 82 minutes passed Ludos's coach gave
A. Vasukonis the opportunity the player had been hoping for.
Y. Pantelidis reluctantly left the field.
Ludos's
F. Arfelis was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box -
A. Vasukonis managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 3 - 2 after 86 minutes.
It wasn't a good day at all for
C. Koschwitz. His powerful style of play just didn't fit the bill on this warm day.
A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Materazzi's
H. Villafuerte increasing the lead to 4 - 2.
Materazzi enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.
G. Rojas performed admirably for Materazzi.
However,
M. Öhlius made a disastrous appearance.
Most important Ludos player was
F. Valle.
F. Arfelis on the other hand, had a terrible day.
The match ends 4 - 2.