Aleppo_11 1 - 4 Merlines (378642306)

It had rained all day, but 4973 hardy fans still made it out to Arena11. Ville Tolmala was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Enrique Lage and Carmine Toni. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Aleppo_11. The following players took the field: Karkutly - Gospodaru, Barakat, Shabrour - Navas, Al Aitoni, Foremski, Hamwe, Chanko - Ghinea, Wittelsbach.

Merlines had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Starters: Venegas - Trejos, Hadden, Casal - Choi, Rønde, Figueres, Badilla - Alemán, Fuentes, Malavasi.

Merlines took the lead 14 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. D. Figueres was the scorer. The visitors added to their lead 33 minutes into the game, after a sensational penalty kick by Merlines's S. Rønde slid just past the home keeper. 0 - 2. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Merlines enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

Content with how the game was proceeding, the Merlines coach let L. Hamblin replace S. Hadden after 46 minutes. R. Badilla wanted to play on, but the Merlines coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 55 minutes into the game by D. Carranza. After 57 minutes, Merlines's L. Hamblin burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Merlines lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. The Merlines players could smell victory in the air. S. Rønde wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for A. Nuñez after 65 minutes. Aleppo_11 supporters cheered as good work down the right got the ball to F. Wittelsbach who reduced the visitors' lead after 72 minutes to 1 - 3. The referee signalled a penalty 73 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. J. Trejos knocked it home to make the score 1 - 4. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit D. Figueres just fine. 75 minutes into the game, Merlines worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. The home crowd cheered when, after 87 minutes, D. Alemán's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. Possession in this half belonged to Merlines, who controlled the ball 66 percent of the time.

Aleppo_11's best player was M. Foremski. A. Al Aitoni turned in a dismal performance, however. Merlines's top performer was clearly D. Figueres. D. Carranza on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 4.