Athina 7 - 3 Corte (379123735)

Dark skies made the crowd of 1042 at Olympic Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Kert Kriisk was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Carl-Richard Entres and Mikko Mattila. Athina had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Ghelardoni - Zago, Casellato, Alessandrini, Tobia - Ladan, Tenaglia, Bellanca, Catania - Defla, Battini.

Corte tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Brinker - Coltri, Muolo, Raimondo - Jodłowski, Bouman, Alonso Arza, Janusson, Costa - Kurek, Orós.

After 11 minutes, Corte's W. Kurek made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. G. Catania made a nice dash down the wing after 15 minutes, but was unable to get the cross into the box. A goal kick was awarded. 20 minutes into the game, Athina had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to solid. 24 minutes in, and Athina were able to score the equalising goal to make it 1 - 1 when E. Casellato picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away team's keeper. Athina had a chance to take the lead after V. Zago's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled out as his shot went just over the bar after 34 minutes. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 35 minutes allowed K. Jodłowski to score for Corte. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Athina's G. Catania came in from the right after 36 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 2 - 2. 2 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Athina, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Athina had solid organisation. P. Muolo was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Corte's K. Jodłowski managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 2 - 3 After 83 minutes of play, F. Ladan equalised for Athina after an elegant attack from the right. After 85 minutes of play, E. Casellato gave the home team a 4 - 3 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Athina managed to extend their lead to 5 - 3 when S. Defla cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Athina scored another to make it 6 - 3 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for F. Ladan after 87 minutes. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. F. Tenaglia squirmed through their central defence after 88 minutes, increasing the lead to 7 - 3. Athina enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

Athina's best player was S. Defla. P. Tobia on the other hand, had a terrible day. J. Alonso Arza performed admirably for Corte. W. Bouman turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 7 - 3.