balbalim 2 - 0 T-SHIRT (379463961)

The 1117 spectators at balbalim Arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Delawar Bhatti was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ferdi Leemhuis and Paweł Ratler. balbalim had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. They fielded: Uziel - Givati, Tur, Kalmykov, Regev, Romano - Hadas, Ozer, Kook, Wilhelm - Apel.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for T-SHIRT. The following players had been chosen: Tepir - Gwadera, Azran, Amoruso - Frontaurea, Reales, Dalum, Heiz, Falhult - Ginat, Savchenkov.

T-SHIRT mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. balbalim made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left S. Kook completely alone with keeper C. Tepir, who made a spectacular block. With 29 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as N. Romano flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. balbalim's P. Hadas was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - F. Apel managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 2 - 0 after 38 minutes. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to balbalim, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

While defending the balbalim lead, E. Tur got a new role. 46 minutes in the game, his coach ordered him to change positions with S. Kook. With 51 minutes played, E. Tur could have brought this one home for balbalim as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. It wasn't a good day at all for R. Heiz. His powerful style of play just didn't fit the bill on this warm day. After 66 minutes, following yet another great corner, G. Azran's flick on at the near post reached R. Heiz, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. A. Frontaurea could've grabbed a goal for T-SHIRT 80 minutes in when he got a pass from the left putting him free of the home side's defence, but he was unable to take advantage of the situation. After 83 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to balbalim's P. Kalmykov being carried off the pitch and replaced by M. Elkins. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by balbalim, with 52 percent of the ball.

Most important balbalim player was M. Elkins. N. Romano was a disappointment, however. T-SHIRT's top performer was clearly C. Tepir. On the other hand, R. Heiz's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 0.