Zirndorf 1 - 3 BallsportlerInnen (368940195)

14547 spectators had found their way to Metropolis, despite the heavy rain. Nikola Indzhov was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tesse Dassen and Roland Henkle. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Zirndorf. The following players took the field: Stuhrmann - Oestreich, Santa Cruz, Martins, Ahlen - Juvanec, Komischke, Brietzke, Tornesch - Brandsen, Elzem.

BallsportlerInnen tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: van der Ploeg - Szydełko, Taherkhan, Ronteltap - Negri, Teufl, Sastre, Navarro, Lennartsson - Stössel, Mittermann.

Zirndorf seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. C. Tornesch, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. K. Teufl had a good try after 4 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. Zirndorf's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 5 minutes gone, but C. Brandsen's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. BallsportlerInnen took the lead 13 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. R. Stössel was the scorer. The home crowd cheered when, after 15 minutes, C. Ronteltap's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. BallsportlerInnen increased their lead after 23 minutes when R. Stössel broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. BallsportlerInnen's R. Stössel left the field after 24 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was J. Šimičev. The rain made it hard for players like Y. Elzem to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. 34 minutes into the match, P. Mittermann came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. BallsportlerInnen claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 65 percent.

Zirndorf reduced the lead to 1 - 2 with 58 minutes on the clock when Y. Elzem got the best of a ball floated in from the left. With 63 minutes played, C. Ronteltap nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. With 67 minutes played, Y. Elzem of Zirndorf fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Zirndorf needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 70 minutes C. Tornesch made way for W. Tausend. After 74 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave K. Teufl a chance to increase the lead for BallsportlerInnen, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 3. P. Mittermann was, after 75 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper F. Stuhrmann made the save. Good work by the Zirndorf defensive line after 76 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found C. Brandsen alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. BallsportlerInnen enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 64 percent of possession.

The most dominating Zirndorf player was without a doubt Y. Elzem. O. Ahlen was a disappointment, however. BallsportlerInnen's top performer was clearly S. Sastre. P. Szydełko turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 3.