Samuraj 2 - 0 Goodwon (372543278)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Samuraj BK(r) Arena saw a crowd turnout of 42778. Alejandro Vara was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Xaver Häußler and Adrián Castaño Párraga. Samuraj started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Lineup: Viner - Leijonwald, Ngidi - Billman, Yngvesson, Torsson, Teller, Gustavsson - Johansson, Mårtensson, Zetterstedt.

Goodwon tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players had been chosen: Aston - van der Meijde, Leuckart, Quitis, Pires - Zebir, Killstad, Özet, Olla, Engler - Sidenerberg.

Goodwon clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Samuraj's J. Teller tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. Samuraj could have put themselves ahead after 35 minutes but L. Zetterstedt missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Making his way up the middle 40 minutes into the match, T. Mårtensson almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert N. Aston blocked it to keep the score level. 41 minutes in, Goodwon's L. Leuckart received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Samuraj had a good opportunity to take the lead as L. Zetterstedt came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of N. Aston. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Billman from Samuraj a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 43 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Unfortunately for Goodwon, A. Killstad was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. I. Rey replaced him. Samuraj took the lead 44 minutes into the match after a magnificent free kick by O. Yngvesson that made the score 1 - 0. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Samuraj, who controlled the ball 76 percent of the time.

H. Gustavsson wanted to play on, but the Samuraj coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by E. Håkansson. With 49 minutes played, Samuraj put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to R. Billman, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. R. Billman knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Samuraj player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. After 73 minutes, Goodwon were awarded a free kick as their counter attack broke down. The set piece was lifted over the top, intended to open up the defence. However, the target man seemed to be taken by surprise, and could not reach the ball before it crossed the line for a goal kick. T. Mårtensson could have put Samuraj up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 74 minutes. Samuraj's M. Leijonwald was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 79 minutes. T. Mårtensson should probably have put his team up another goal after 80 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by N. Aston kept the visitors in the game. Samuraj enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 80 percent of possession.

Samuraj's top performer was clearly L. Zetterstedt. On the other hand, M. Leijonwald's play was disheartening. Goodwon's best player was M. Sidenerberg. O. Engler was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 0.