tobanes 4 - 4 Udinese (348929990)

Clear skies welcomed the 2333 spectators who had made their way to El Pindio Arena. Helmi Bianda was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Norbert Brückling and Kleovoulos Yiataganis. tobanes tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Müller - Puzakov, Carrat, Portales, Halevi - Savino, Zoss, Dramiński, Paez - Crombez, Dijksman.

Udinese had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Maarup - Smart, 弘凯 (Hongkai) , Engómez - Mellor, Cadalla, Kriz, Medrano, Romambil - Hadfield, Guhl.

A. Halevi gave tobanes the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 tobanes's C. Crombez finished emphatically to make the score 2 -0 after 10 minutes, after the enigmatic O. Dijksman pulled a delightful long pass from his box of tricks to bypass the defence. tobanes's C. Crombez had an excellent opportunity after 13 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! An awe-inspiring free kick by R. Smart of Udinese resulted in a goal 14 minutes into the game! 2 - 1 was the new score. Cheers filled the stadium as C. Crombez broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to tobanes. Udinese reduced the deficit to 3 - 2 with a penalty placed perfectly beside the left post by R. Smart. Udinese's S. Guhl was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 26 minutes. It was 3 - 2 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Udinese, with 54 percent of the ball.

The visitors were awarded a penalty by the referee 56 minutes into the match, much to the anger of the home crowd. R. Smart took advantage of the situation and scored to make it 3 - 3. That made three goals for R. Smart and he was marked down for the hat trick. tobanes fans held their breath as O. Dijksman scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 4 - 3! After 66 minutes, Udinese sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached J. Mellor, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 4 - 4. tobanes's D. Puzakov refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 73 minutes. Udinese claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

tobanes's top performer was clearly F. Portales. On the other hand, A. Halevi's play was disheartening. The most dominating Udinese player was without a doubt N. Hadfield. A. Engómez was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 4.