Michaels 1 - 8 Wycombe (392351400)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 40160 to Sly Stone Arena. Rodrigo Brigati was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Julio Herzl and Niels Have Christensen. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Michaels. Lineup: Bernieri - Yordanov, Sjöberg, Van Nespen, Czarniewski - Rigolli, Flores de Lizaur, Guevara, Emad, Zubalajauri - Mettier.

Wycombe decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Chontos - Worwąg, Wellens, Staab - Rosal, Castela, Luu, Sgouros, Callegati - Gachet, Holland.

Michaels tried to focus their attacks down the middle. 0 - 1 was the score with 19 minutes played, after W. Gachet cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Wycombe. After 20 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for T. Holland who increased Wycombe's lead to 0 - 2. Michaels didn't give in and with 28 minutes played M. Guevara was able to make the score 1 - 2 after an attack on the right. E. Staab increased Wycombe's lead to 1 - 3 with a superb free kick strike that flew in just under the far top corner. J. Mettier challenged the visitors' central defence eagerly, producing a good chance 33 minutes into the game as he went for a through ball. But, as so many times before, the guests' defensive efforts got the best of it. It was 1 - 3 at the break. Wycombe claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent.

With 49 minutes played, Wycombe put themselves up 1 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was E. Staab. The referee showed Michaels's S. Czarniewski the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 55 minutes S. Rosal made a speedy advance and dropped the ball to W. Gachet who shuffled it past the keeper. The score was now 1 - 5. An indecisive keeper looked on as a free kick by Wycombe's E. Staab put the visitors up 1 - 6 after 56 minutes. By then E. Staab had scored three goals - a hat trick! Confident in their lead, Wycombe's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. With 70 minutes played, T. Luu nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. The referee signalled a penalty 71 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. E. Staab knocked it home to make the score 1 - 7. After 72 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed T. Holland to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 1 - 8. W. Gachet wanted to play on, but the Wycombe coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 74 minutes into the game by Č. Kukuruzović. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Wycombe coach let D. Mullenders replace T. Holland after 74 minutes. S. Rosal left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 74 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. A. Palermo was the replacement. Wycombe had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

The most dominating Michaels player was without a doubt J. Mettier. On the other hand, J. Sjöberg's play was disheartening. Č. Kukuruzović performed admirably for Wycombe. E. Staab turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 8.