Stella 1 - 5 Tacuba (366030301)

The 25000 fans in attendance at Arena del Sud were roasting in the hot sun. Alexander Münzner was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ryszard Biechoński and Max Strohmaier. Stella tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Starters: Nizami - Agiato, Kristiansen - Sibera, Valerio, Di Iorio, Constantin, Tillstål - Łapicz, Lampa, Buergi.

Tacuba decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players took the field: Ciuffi - Cantarini, Cafagna, Matera - Belli, Belli, Di Pasquale, La Ratta - Piripilli, Tiso, Cioffi.

B. Cafagna of Tacuba received a yellow card after 9 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why P. Tiso found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. The visiting P. Tiso was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 23 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. After 40 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for E. Di Pasquale who increased Tacuba's lead to 0 - 2. S. Belli received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 43 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 3. The Tacuba fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. By now, the players in Tacuba felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Stella's B. Tillstål got himself booked for a foul. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Tacuba, as E. Di Pasquale left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. G. Iannotta took his place on the field. Halftime score was 0 - 3. Stella claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

At 60 minutes into the game, Stella's C. Valerio deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 1 - 3. After 75 minutes, Stella used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. With 75 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed P. Tiso of Tacuba to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 4. The referee showed Stella's G. Di Iorio the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. There was concern in the stands when, at the 77 minute mark, Tacuba's V. Cioffi hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. V. Cioffi didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. With 83 minutes played, Tacuba put themselves up 1 - 5 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was V. Cioffi. Possession in this half belonged to Stella, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

T. Buergi performed admirably for Stella. A. Agiato was a disappointment, however. Tacuba's top performer was clearly P. Tiso. G. Iannotta on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 5.