Coimbra 3 - 0 mendes (379730567)

A scorching day at Estádio Universitário, where 835 spectators were in place for today's match. Nick Smallman was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Thomas Thorstensson and Marcus Hanisch. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Coimbra. Lineup: Cabanillas - Rautenberg, Drakholt, van der Feen - Nikopolidis, Simola, da Silva, Pace, Bozhkov - Amezquita, Walter-Offenbach.

mendes started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Quintã - Silva Nunes, Vouzela, Duarte - Neto, Sousa Matos, Sá, Steidl, Dores - Faccini, Ponte.

Today, Coimbra's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. mendes were pushed back, and had many dangerous counterattacks. An impressive one came 17 minutes into the match, but C. Faccini narrowly missed the free kick attempt that was awarded as a result of a foul. Slack defending gave Coimbra a chance to take the lead with 22 minutes played, but A. da Silva's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. Coimbra had a good opportunity to take the lead as O. Walter-Offenbach came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of E. Quintã. 0 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Coimbra, who controlled the ball 64 percent of the time.

After 52 minutes mendes's C. Faccini limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 57 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from D. van der Feen, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. Coimbra were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. After 76 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and A. da Silva gave the Coimbra supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 2 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Coimbra lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Usually a powerful player on the field, P. Sousa Matos looked kind of pale and tired under the hot sun. Coimbra's J. Amezquita increased the lead to 3 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 84 minutes. Coimbra enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 67 percent of possession.

J. Amezquita performed admirably for Coimbra. On the other hand, V. Bozhkov's play was disheartening. mendes's best player was P. Sousa Matos. However, F. Sá made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 0.