Beodos 5 - 3 Runners (367424463)

Dark skies made the crowd of 20797 at La Cantina a little nervous, but the rain held off. Herbert Schlichter was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tarvydas Striūpaitis and Normunds Nagla. Beodos decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Vasilache - Stütgens, Chiqueno, Pettke - Buaes, Uter, Sulija, Börne, Lecanda - Dumitriu, Mariani.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Runners. Starters: Monhait - Guercolata, Petrov, Machón - Pieroni, Ruiz Jiménez, Draksjö, Vermiesch, Balogh - Halldorsson, Elejalde.

Beodos demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. Beodos's V. Dumitriu tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when V. Elejalde slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against A. Vasilache, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. Runners's A. Petrov managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 31 minutes. 0 - 1. 40 minutes into the match, Beodos's P. Börne 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. Beodos's E. Buaes got himself booked for a foul. Beodos took the lead 42 minutes in, as P. Börne broke through on the left and put the 2 - 1 shot just beyond the reach of the outstretched keeper. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Stütgens from Beodos a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 43 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Things were deteriorating for the away team as Beodos scored another to make it 3 - 1 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for G. Mariani after 44 minutes. 3 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Beodos, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

L. Halldorsson could've grabbed a goal for Runners 46 minutes in when he got a pass from the left putting him free of the home side's defence, but he was unable to take advantage of the situation. Given a free kick close to the byline, Beodos tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let V. Dumitriu slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 4 - 1, 66 minutes into the game. The players of Beodos now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. Ater 69 minutes K. Vermiesch seized on an opportunistic attack from the right, and scored for Runners making it 4 - 2. The referee showed Runners's Z. Balogh the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Runners reduced the lead after 75 minutes to 4 - 3 as K. Vermiesch easily chipped the ball past the home side's keeper after a dazzling play from the right. E. Buaes was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Beodos's M. Lecanda managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 5 - 3 Beodos enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

Beodos's best player was J. Sulija. E. Buaes was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Runners player was without a doubt L. Halldorsson. B. Machón on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 3.