MILITO 1 - 3 Kočevje (316154259)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 3724 to EL GRANDISIMO PRESIDENTISIMO TIDO. Konrad Sachsendorff was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tayyip Çoban and Jabir El-Rusan. MILITO started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Barreca - Rautalin, Fafara, Folha - Iovenitti, Ghiberti, Tiozzo, Riva, Simeoni - Pereira, Assini.

Kočevje had chosen a strategic 4-3-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Camoranesi - Pregelj, Anžur, Perkat, Drljepan - Bratina, van Adelsbergen, Koprivnjak - Šmajgl, Florjančič, Plard.

30 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Ž. Bratina, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. MILITO fans held their breath as C. Assini scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 1 - 0! The home team will be cursing L. Pregelj for weeks; he finished off a great pass from the left, knocking it past the keeper without a problem. The match was level at 1 - 1 after 39 minutes. MILITO's C. Assini was shown a yellow card after 40 minutes for slicing down an opponent. As S. Ghiberti had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the MILITO player a red card without batting an eyelid. After 43 minutes, Kočevje put themselves up 1 - 2, as Z. Šmajgl finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Kočevje had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

MILITO needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 55 minutes M. Rautalin made way for S. Masetto. Always quick on his feet, MILITO's L. Simeoni sped down the field after 59 minutes, but his pass to D. Pereira was just a bit too far ahead for him to get a good shot off. After 60 minutes, MILITO switched S. Folha with Y. Chumachenko, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. After 66 minutes of game time, S. Florjančič had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but G. Barreca was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. G. Barreca got a fingertip on B. Koprivnjak's shot from the left 75 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. The visitors' L. Pregelj took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 76 minutes into the match. 1 - 3 for Kočevje. Some things can only be learned through experience, and P. Fafara should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting Kočevje a goal with 84 minutes of the match played. After 87 minutes Kočevje's F. Drljepan limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Kočevje claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

Y. Chumachenko performed admirably for MILITO. On the other hand, L. Simeoni's play was disheartening. Most important Kočevje player was C. van Adelsbergen. G. Camoranesi turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 3.