buba-liga 2 - 4 xalam (364127923)

Dark skies made the crowd of 2722 at Stadio Olimpico a little nervous, but the rain held off. Jürg Schultz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Juan Larrique and Zacharias Mäschle. buba-liga had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Boeve - Adamič, Froelih, Ortner - Zakrajšek, Jelinčič, Gäntzel, Berger, Smolnikar - Kurtanjek, Vončina.

xalam started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Bader - Doğruöz, Putis, de Man, Reguero Martín - bin Ali, Gatsonides, Blancke, Nobre - Coletti, Ben Nasser.

buba-liga demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. One of many good crosses from M. bin Ali on the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by M. Coletti, who scored for xalam. 0 - 1 14 minutes into the match, buba-liga's F. Kurtanjek maneuvered his way around the opposition on the left flank, delighting the crowd with his twists and turns. The effort paid off as the ball found the back of the net, evening the score at 1 - 1. At 26 minutes played, C. Vončina came in from the right with the intention of giving buba-liga the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. Down the middle came A. Doğruöz, making a fantastic play that nearly had xalam take the lead after 32 minutes, but R. Boeve preserved the tie. buba-liga's R. Zakrajšek was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 36 minutes. 37 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for buba-liga to take the lead after a good cross from the right found F. Kurtanjek alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 41 minutes, buba-liga did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, C. Vončina was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 2 - 1. 2 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to buba-liga, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

With 46 minutes played, the xalam coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. T. Gasse came on, G. Nobre had to leave the fray. The xalam captaincy was handed to W. Blancke. xalam's right side looked dangerous 50 minutes in, but R. Boeve made a good save on A. Doğruöz's hard shot to the top corner. The goal to make it 2 - 2 was scored by M. Ben Nasser after 57 minutes, following an opportunistic counterattack down the middle by xalam. After 65 minutes, the xalam coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving W. Blancke off the field. R. Schwarzenbeck took his place. Y. Gatsonides was the new captain of xalam - handed the armband by the departing player. xalam's R. Schwarzenbeck gave the visitors a 2 - 3 lead after 66 minutes with a superb strike from the right. buba-liga's J. Jelinčič almost tied things up with 71 minutes played after breaking through on the right, but his shot deflected off the post. With 77 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed M. Ben Nasser of xalam to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 2 - 4. The players of xalam now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. xalam enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 51 percent of possession.

G. Gäntzel performed admirably for buba-liga. On the other hand, E. Adamič's play was disheartening. xalam's top performer was clearly R. de Man. T. Bader on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4.