Senimen 2 - 3 Umpalumpas (379760439)

Dark skies made the crowd of 305 at Lagrimas Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Tomek Mroszczyk was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Brian Steen Mølbach Olsen and Jounaidi Rahmoun. Senimen had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Junttanen - Koltovich, Ojeda, Mesquita - Maritano, Urmeneta, Jokinen, Dalgalarrando, Özsan - Biteil, Fenech.

A 4-3-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Umpalumpas. They fielded: Santos - Langford, Krstić, Corbineau, Kaiser - Menichelli, Onurad, Traver - Ramírez, González, Señoret.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Umpalumpas. 3 minutes into the game, Umpalumpas seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a solid level of organisation. After 25 minutes Senimen's J. Ojeda contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. After 28 minutes Umpalumpas's D. Traver limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. 31 minutes in, Umpalumpas appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. It wasn't a pretty goal, but the free kick by C. Maritano after 32 minutes somehow found its way past the keeper. Senimen takes the lead, 1 - 0! Coming from the right, S. Özsan almost managed to score another goal for Senimen, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Good work by the Umpalumpas defensive line after 38 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found V. Menichelli alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. M. Krstić tied the game at 1 - 1 after 39 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. Umpalumpas's A. Onurad was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 43 minutes. Umpalumpas's counterattacks were lethal to the opposing defence, allowing F. Corbineau to score easily from the right flank for 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Senimen claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 65 percent.

During the break, Umpalumpas's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 49 minutes, Senimen tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. Umpalumpas's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 50 minutes gone, but M. Krstić's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area with a goal nearly scored by J. Ramírez. At last, Umpalumpas's A. Onurad was able to backheel the ball in. 1 - 3. Senimen were awarded a penalty 63 minutes into the match and C. Maritano fired the ball into the net to make the score 2 - 3. 82 minutes into the game, Umpalumpas seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to solid. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. Urmeneta from Senimen a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 85 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 86 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Umpalumpas found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to solid. Possession in this half belonged to Senimen, who controlled the ball 66 percent of the time.

Most important Senimen player was J. Urmeneta. I. Biteil was a disappointment, however. Umpalumpas's best player was M. Krstić. However, J. Ramírez made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 3.