kopaci 5 - 3 Splav (365850262)

Clouds darkened the skies at Nou Camp as 18482 spectators turned up for the match. Carl Semsch was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nicolás Fuertes and Lippo Talola. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for kopaci. They fielded: Nachlinger - Beltran, Dazkır, Appellhof, Esch - Molblad, Rosa, Gregorčič, Dimakakis - Igor, Iruela.

Splav decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Avrahami - Shpilev, Ledain, Izquierdo, Zemánek - De Laere, Rosenfeld-Görnitz, Bråthen, de Bruijne - Di Battista, Aytan.

kopaci saw most attack opportunities on the wings. For their match strategy, Splav had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. After 14 minutes, J. Esch sent the corner kick right to T. Dimakakis who headed it sharply past the keeper. 1 - 0! Attacking on the wings was the choice for kopaci, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. After 26 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and D. Igor gave the kopaci supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 2 - 0. kopaci's D. Igor skillfully knocked a pass over the top after 27 minutes, and that was received by M. Iruela who just managed to slot it past the opposing goalkeeper for 3 - 0. kopaci increased the lead as T. Dazkır struck to make the score 4 - 0 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. After 44 minutes, the defensive line of kopaci created a counterattack through the middle that gave D. Igor a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. J. Esch almost put kopaci ahead another goal when he curled a free kick over the defensive wall and almost into the net, but the visitors' keeper got there just in time to knock it wide. With the clock showing 44 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Splav resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by L. Ledain in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. M. Iruela's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 44 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to D. Igor who knocked it in for kopaci. 5 - 0! Confident in their lead, kopaci's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Halftime score was 5 - 0. kopaci claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 66 percent.

Splav's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 50 minutes gone, but M. Shpilev's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. That Splav's L. Ledain has the ability of doing what no one expects him to do was shown as he ran over an opposing defender, snatched the ball and passed to U. Aytan who hit it hard into the wide open goal after 55 minutes: 5 - 1! The home team's fans were upset when, after 56 minutes, the visiting D. Di Battista broke through the central defence and kicked the ball past the keeper. 5 - 2 was the score. J. Esch's curling free kick almost found the goal for kopaci, but the visitors' keeper somehow managed to get ahold of it. A great save by keeper R. Avrahami after 64 minutes kept the visitors in the game after T. Dazkır struck from the left with a real cannonball. Having just succeeded in blocking a dangerous counter attack, the defending team was outwitted by the follow-up Splav free kick. The routine was expertly executed as the ball was shifted quickly to one side of the box, then back to the other. N. De Laere appeared on cue near the post, and steered it past the goalie. 5 - 3, after 65 minutes. kopaci's J. Esch was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 78 minutes. The kopaci players could smell victory in the air. T. Dimakakis wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for S. Cotegipe after 79 minutes. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by kopaci, with 67 percent of the ball.

Most important kopaci player was S. Gregorčič. R. Nachlinger turned in a dismal performance, however. Splav's top performer was clearly D. Di Battista. V. Rosenfeld-Görnitz was a disappointment, however. The match ends 5 - 3.