VECCHIO 1 - 3 Basca (350809568)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 20000 at Paolo Mazza today. Duane Manku was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fabian Schicklgruber and Livio Lepper. VECCHIO had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Weiss - Coelho, Sanjuán, Lefèvre - Sáenz Camacho, Oskarsson, Farkas, Bittar, Pérez - Rotondo, Dark.

Basca started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Olszowski - Mousing, Wernecki, Gmeiner - Häggbratt, Moureaux, Crippa, Torrent, Conroth - Lundhult, Podergajs.

VECCHIO were determined to use their long shot ability. Basca tried to focus their attacks down the middle. 4 minutes into the match, the speedy V. Podergajs easily outpaced L. Coelho, chipped the keeper and made the score 0 - 1. The home crowd was not impressed when V. Podergajs came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 12 minutes. Basca were now up 0 - 2. A scuffle developed as players from both sides clashed following a tussle in the centre of the field 23 minutes into the match. After regaining order and consulting his linesman, the referee called VECCHIO's L. Coelho to one side and produced a red card for the player. VECCHIO needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 23 minutes L. Sáenz Camacho made way for O. Özkal. Y. Shen was called on to replace Basca's K. Conroth after 27 minutes following a nasty collision. V. Podergajs became the new Basca captain. A. Sanjuán did everything he could to get one back for his VECCHIO, but keeper K. Olszowski denied him with a spectacular block. VECCHIO's C. Pérez was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 38 minutes. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Basca, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

A misunderstanding between the visitors' keeper K. Olszowski and his left defence could have resulted in a goal for VECCHIO, but E. Bittar's finish was way too lame. C. Pérez knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the VECCHIO player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. The bench was restless, and with 65 minutes passed VECCHIO's coach gave D. Weitzer the opportunity the player had been hoping for. E. Bittar reluctantly left the field. Given a free kick close to the byline, Basca tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let U. Häggbratt slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 3, 65 minutes into the game. After this, you could see that the players of Basca were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. With 75 minutes played, the VECCHIO coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. S. Meilink came on, M. Dark had to leave the fray. VECCHIO's slick passing moves completely confused the defence after 75 minutes, but thanks to K. Olszowski's miraculous save from D. Farkas's long shot the score remained unchanged. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Basca, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. The home crowd cheered when, after 80 minutes, Y. Shen's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. VECCHIO's counterattacks created a good chance for O. Oskarsson on the right after 81 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. VECCHIO refused to be intimidated and, breaking through the middle, S. Meilink managed to slip the ball home for 1 - 3. Basca claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

VECCHIO's top performer was clearly V. Rotondo. On the other hand, A. Sanjuán's play was disheartening. P. Crippa performed admirably for Basca. Y. Shen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3.