Emergo 2 - 1 Cruijff (266447917)

27675 punters turned up at Emergo's Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Godefroy Groleau was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Miki Määttä and Wiesław Całka. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Zuid-Holland derby and the crowd was divided evenly. Emergo decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Koban - Kulick, Aguado Orea, Checa - Pilet, Perilli, Embracher, Gili, Pieper - Lamat', Marreiro.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Cruijff. The following players had been chosen: Slangen - van Ingen, Rita, Aernouds - Loevestein, Potier, Gissa, 't Hart, Zaatman - Kleinendorst, Varchmin.

A. Pilet's speed was clear to see after 11 minutes, as he darted down the wing and released A. Marreiro who placed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 1 - 0. With 24 minutes played, L. Aernouds of Cruijff fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Cruijff were close to putting the equaliser away after 35 minutes as the opposing defence lost control of the ball to L. Aernouds in a scuffle towards the left of the goal, but in the end the ball was cleared over the dead ball line. L. Aernouds behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 39 minutes as he gave the ball away to A. Pilet. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. The Emergo free kick 40 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 I. Lamat', who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 2 - 0! A. Loonstein was called on to replace Cruijff's P. Varchmin after 42 minutes following a nasty collision. Halftime score was 2 - 0. Cruijff had most of the ball, with 52 percent of possession.

F. Loevestein could've grabbed a goal for Cruijff 56 minutes in when he got a pass from the left putting him free of the home side's defence, but he was unable to take advantage of the situation. Emergo's N. Gili was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 57 minutes. Cruijff managed to reduce the score to 2 - 1 as C. Gissa finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. I. Lamat' could have increased the lead after 75 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. Cruijff claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Emergo's top performer was clearly G. Embracher. On the other hand, A. Marreiro's play was disheartening. Most important Cruijff player was C. Potier. P. Zaatman was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 1.