Branca 11 - 0 grosso (366253028)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 15600 at PalaSportArena today. Fausto Busato was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bogdan Kasperek and Nimrod Sadeh. Branca started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Lindenbergh - Arapi, Altenbergs - da Bola, Hilfiker, Stuiver, Fabijanavičius, Thill - Otacı, Lipsanos, Dumitraş.

grosso decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. They fielded: Taddei - Gavezzoli, Lai, Giuntinelli, Marocco - Niccolai, Matteo, Petretta, Pillitu - Menichino, Memonti.

R. da Bola caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 13 minutes. This gave Branca the 1 - 0 lead. After 19 minutes, Branca's N. Lipsanos fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! Things were going to get worse for the visitors. İ. Otacı squirmed through their central defence after 24 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. After this, you could see that the players of Branca were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. Branca's B. Hilfiker increased the lead to 3 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 34 minutes. The score became 4 - 0 at 38 minutes into the game, when Branca were given a penalty which M. Fabijanavičius blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! After 40 minutes grosso's F. Menichino had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. M. Battiato came in to replace him. After 41 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and H. Dumitraş gave the Branca supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 5 - 0. The teams went for the halftime break at 5 - 0. Branca enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 88 percent of possession.

A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Branca to 6 - 0 as M. Fabijanavičius finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. M. Fabijanavičius increased Branca's lead to 7 - 0 with a penalty spot cannonball. This third goal completed a hattrick for M. Fabijanavičius. With 74 minutes played, Branca put themselves up 8 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to J. Stuiver, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. İ. Otacı wanted to play on, but the Branca coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by A. Turco. The referee showed grosso's N. Gavezzoli the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Branca's K. Thill increasing the lead to 9 - 0. The Branca players could smell victory in the air. R. Arapi wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for M. Dalecki after 80 minutes. Branca's B. Hilfiker was shown a yellow card after 80 minutes for slicing down an opponent. M. Battiato was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so grosso's R. Calvaruso had to come off the bench. N. Lipsanos of Branca was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish L. Giuntinelli, which resulted in a goal making the score 10 - 0. 83 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as N. Lipsanos broke through, making the score 11 - 0 for Branca. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, M. Altenbergs got himself booked. The manager of Branca was not happy. Branca had most of the ball, with 89 percent of possession.

Most important Branca player was B. Hilfiker. M. Dalecki was a disappointment, however. grosso's top performer was clearly F. Memonti. P. Taddei turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 11 - 0.