Souvenir 8 - 0 BUBICE (379431180)

The 5744 fans in attendance at Souvenir Arena were roasting in the hot sun. Alec McCartan was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mircea Barbu and Tommi Pekkola. Souvenir tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Mateus - Bentvelzen, Belleville, Pagnozzi - Ribecca, Frade, Penkler, Spadon, Comparelli - Maio, Bernard.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for BUBICE. Lineup: Trbović - Abadi, Rebegea, Maggiore - Vujasinović, Lukić, Massarenti, Cristian, Urošević - Zsinka, Özhakan.

The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 13 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from M. Pagnozzi, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. Souvenir solidified their lead at the 14 minute mark, as A. Bernard dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 2 - 0. After 19 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and R. Ribecca gave the Souvenir supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 0. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Pagnozzi from Souvenir a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 23 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Souvenir were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty 24 minutes into the match, which was neatly put away by S. Penkler. 4 - 0 for the home side. Confident in their lead, Souvenir's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. 32 minutes into the game, Souvenir were awarded a penalty that S. Penkler turned into 5 - 0 without a problem. 5 - 0 was the score after the first half. Souvenir enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

With 46 minutes played, the BUBICE coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. B. Rashki came on, R. Urošević had to leave the fray. Some things can only be learned through experience, and M. Rebegea should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting Souvenir a goal with 60 minutes of the match played. A. Bernard could have increased the lead after 61 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. M. Rebegea of BUBICE received a yellow card after 72 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Souvenir managed to extend their lead to 6 - 0 when A. Spadon cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. After a savage shot that could only be parried by the keeper, A. Bernard demonstrated his experience by being in just the right place to slot home the rebound. His goal for Souvenir 76 minutes into the match made the score 7 - 0. 77 minutes in, Souvenir's V. Belleville received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Coming from the right, P. Frade almost managed to score another goal for Souvenir, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. A. Spadon increased the lead for Souvenir to 8 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! A. Lukić wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat. Souvenir claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

A. Bernard performed admirably for Souvenir. However, T. Comparelli made a disastrous appearance. BUBICE's top performer was clearly G. Massarenti. D. Trbović was a disappointment, however. The match ends 8 - 0.