MOTORS 1 - 3 Landau (378233135)

The crowd of 1573 turning up at MOTORS Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Kris Dommergaard was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ignaz Helfenstein and Uroš Smolić. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for MOTORS. They fielded: Vilca - Schönholz, Castanheira, Matys - Hanc, Raiski, Budaj, Saletra, Stamsneijder - Björklund, Fornerod.

Landau tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Hellenkamp - Galluccio, Weßel, Farhat - Tiele, Mkuchika, Schoon, Iwersen, Garching - Medlitsch, Schiefner.

Landau displayed their ability to play creatively. J. Budaj was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Landau will have to do without G. Iwersen for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 15 minute mark. He was substituted by J. Volmer. Many thought K. Stamsneijder ought to have been awarded a penalty 19 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around B. Hellenkamp after a determined run through the middle. 20 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for MOTORS to take the lead after a good cross from the right found V. Raiski alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. O. Schiefner sailed high above the opponents as he headed in a corner kick from D. Galluccio after 21 minutes of play, making the score 0 - 1. T. Medlitsch increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. By now, the players in Landau felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. With 32 minutes played, A. Björklund was very close to reducing the score for MOTORS with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. MOTORS claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

The bench was restless, and with 46 minutes passed MOTORS's coach gave L. Enyego the opportunity the player had been hoping for. V. Raiski reluctantly left the field. Y. Farhat of Landau received a yellow card after 59 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The crowd groaned when D. Saletra, having maneuvered his way down the right, fired the ball just wide and missed a great opportunity to reduce the deficit for MOTORS. The referee showed Landau's R. Schoon the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, I. Castanheira got himself booked. The manager of MOTORS was not happy. With 82 minutes played, the excellent ball from the wing by Landau's K. Tiele reached O. Schiefner's head, and he is not one to miss such an opportunity - 0 - 3. Landau's G. Garching's long shot really ought to have found the net 85 minutes into the match, but it fell just wide of the target. MOTORS showed their counterattack skill 86 minutes into the match by breaking through the middle, with D. Saletra scoring uncontested for 1 - 3. MOTORS had most of the ball, with 55 percent of possession.

MOTORS's top performer was clearly A. Björklund. However, D. Saletra made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Landau player was without a doubt O. Schiefner. K. Tiele was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 3.