Manlac 5 - 0 Katalóniaiak (383895376)

The 41868 spectators at Hamburger Eddy Sportaréna were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Jorge Pichot was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mirko Pirkel and Ondrej Otta. Manlac had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. Starters: Bîrca - Gáspár, Luginger, Halik, Panske, Séra - Nanu, Chaves, Klenov - Paquereau, Ancsin.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Katalóniaiak. Lineup: Ruiz del Arco - Kursītis, Strantz, Pereira Rego - Blondiau, Grødem, Martinelli, Benan, Colace - Hedstål, Buelga.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Manlac. Katalóniaiak saw most attack opportunities on the wings. They were singing the praises of A. Nanu 10 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 1 - 0 to Manlac. With 16 minutes played, Manlac put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to D. Paquereau, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Manlac solidified their lead at the 26 minute mark, as D. Paquereau dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why E. Hedstål found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. Cheers filled the stadium as K. Séra broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 4 - 0 to Manlac. The home side's A. Ancsin came close to extending the lead 35 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but J. Ruiz del Arco managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. 4 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Manlac, who controlled the ball 61 percent of the time.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Katalóniaiak's J. Pereira Rego was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. G. Blum was given a chance to change things around. Manlac's T. Panske was shown a yellow card after 63 minutes for slicing down an opponent. D. Paquereau could have increased the lead after 67 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. 72 minutes in, Manlac's D. Klenov received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Due to a severely mistimed tackle, J. Ruiz del Arco of Katalóniaiak spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Manlac to 5 - 0 as G. Luginger finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Manlac lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Still trailing on the score board, Katalóniaiak adjusted their tactics after 75 minutes. M. Strantz had a quick chat at the side line, then switched positions with G. Blum. The referee showed Manlac's A. Nanu the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. G. Luginger wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat. Manlac had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

Manlac's best player was D. Paquereau. G. Luginger was a disappointment, however. Most important Katalóniaiak player was E. Hedstål. On the other hand, J. Ruiz del Arco's play was disheartening. The match ends 5 - 0.