ViVa 3 - 2 Athletics (378564203)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Eugenio ed Enrico Canfari saw a crowd turnout of 3619. Per Karlblad was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Rainer Schredt and Roland Moković. ViVa decided to use a 5-3-2 set up. The following players took the field: Ercolini - Bettonte, Cusaro, Majer, Zenzola, Fuliano - Mazzei, Charlier, Cangiano - Cannau, Pecetti.

Athletics tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Lineup: Refsnes - Aasgaard, Vatne - Øvrebø, Nygren, Carlsen, Mauch, Bones - Dinesen, Matalí, Aristizabal.

After 8 minutes, Athletics's J. Aristizabal made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. The crowd roared in delight as N. Majer finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for ViVa 19 minutes into the match. 1 - 1. P. Bones of Athletics was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. After 25 minutes, Athletics's P. Nygren fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! 26 minutes into the game, ViVa had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to solid. 27 minutes into the game, P. Nygren was a hair's breadth away from giving Athletics the lead with a shot from over on the left. A prompt block by M. Ercolini saved the home team that time. With 28 minutes played W. Charlier almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. After the game, the most discussed event will probably be the penalty given after 30 minutes that gave the visitors the 1 - 2 lead. Despite the controversy, P. Dinesen struck home the penalty, as cool as anything. 34 minutes in, ViVa appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only passable. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Athletics enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

The ViVa players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. The ViVa players listened closely to their manager, as he gave new tactical instructions for the team. Always a threat, T. Øvrebø tore past his marker and placed the ball right at the feet of the waiting A. Matalí who should have easily scored for Athletics, but the ball went wide. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for ViVa, but G. Pecetti's shot went over the bar. T. Øvrebø fired a shot from distance after 55 minutes, but the long shot couldn't find the net for Athletics. After 60 minutes, ViVa switched D. Bettonte with A. Catarci, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. With 65 minutes played, the ViVa coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. M. Verde came on, M. Cangiano had to leave the fray. ViVa needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 70 minutes G. Cannau made way for C. De virgiliis. After a scuffle in the guests' penalty area 82 minutes into the game, the home team was awarded a penalty. W. Charlier scored to make it 2 - 2. With 84 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, P. Nygren needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. W. Charlier gave ViVa the lead with a beautiful free kick after 88 minutes. 3 - 2! Athletics claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

Most important ViVa player was W. Charlier. M. Verde turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Athletics player was without a doubt P. Dinesen. A. Aasgaard on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 2.