CapitanTsubasa 1 - 4 GB (366090896)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 30193 that came out to Benji Prise Stadium. Hernán Zambrano was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Guillermo Samil and Ricky Mota Prado. CapitanTsubasa had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Starters: Marksteiner - Cataldi, Topazzini, Zuliani - Chiarani, Desormeaux, Leiva, Lafitte - Ok, Atanasov, Mrazek.

GB started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Vercetti - Radi, Devoucoux, Canestrari - Labarca, Liber, Nerettig, Gomes Figueiredo, Imaz - D'Onofrio, Causarano.

It was an obvious ambition of CapitanTsubasa to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Today, GB's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. The sun seemed to put G. D'Onofrio in a great mood, and he showed off his technical skills all match long. 0 - 1 was the score with 30 minutes played, after G. Causarano cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for GB. Z. Liber of GB received a yellow card after 34 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Players in CapitanTsubasa heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave G. Radi from GB a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 38 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Unfortunately for CapitanTsubasa, D. Cataldi was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. R. Castiaux replaced him. The visitors' Z. Liber took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 40 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for GB. A marvellous CapitanTsubasa effort on the right-hand side resulted in a goal after 41 minutes by N. Lafitte, making the score 1 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to GB, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

With the scoreboard showing that 56 minutes had been played, GB nearly put themselves up another goal after G. Causarano came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. After 57 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for G. D'Onofrio who increased GB's lead to 1 - 3. The fierce heat made it important to save breath, and after a few swift runs R. Castiaux found it hard to get back into position. After the ball was lifted in from the left, G. Causarano was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 81 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. It was obvious that GB had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. The home crowd was not impressed when G. D'Onofrio came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 84 minutes. GB were now up 1 - 4. The players of GB now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. GB had most of the ball, with 58 percent of possession.

CapitanTsubasa's top performer was clearly D. Atanasov. R. Castiaux turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating GB player was without a doubt G. D'Onofrio. On the other hand, R. Imaz's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 4.