squadra 0 - 2 Cerberus (379949609)

2209 punters turned up at Nera Azura Stadium, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Antonio Lavín was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Stefan Åhnblad and Ludwig Eisenmann. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for squadra. Lineup: Thijs - Frisgaard, De Herrera, de Almeida - Stentardo, Agostinho, Sánchez, Curry - Erşan, Gangue, Rolfsson.

Cerberus had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. Starters: Van Rechem - Boulanger, Hermand, Vandervorst, Boudart, Van Gertruyden - Blondeel, Vervaeck, Bos, Deroeck - Van Der Borght.

squadra seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when J. Deroeck was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 7 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! The guests took the lead 27 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in H. Vervaeck scoring to make it 0 - 1. 31 minutes into the game, Cerberus worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. With 32 minutes played, A. Boulanger nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. squadra's E. Rolfsson was shown a yellow card after 33 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Cerberus, as O. Van Gertruyden left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. J. Trippaers took his place on the field. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Cerberus had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

With 46 minutes played, the squadra coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. J. Mäenpää came on, A. Stentardo had to leave the fray. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from A. Boulanger after 51 minutes, and prevented Cerberus from going up another goal. H. Van Der Borght came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over A. Thijs but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. M. Vandervorst received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 64 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. It was obvious that team squadra had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for squadra, but J. De Herrera's shot went over the bar. A. Thijs got a fingertip on I. Hermand's shot from the left 68 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. J. Trippaers was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Cerberus's M. Vandervorst managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 0 - 2 By now, the players in Cerberus felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. After 74 minutes, squadra switched S. Erşan with M. Benjaminsen, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The bench was restless, and with 77 minutes passed squadra's coach gave G. Chiuselli the opportunity the player had been hoping for. J. De Herrera reluctantly left the field. Cerberus claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

A. Gangue performed admirably for squadra. On the other hand, A. Thijs's play was disheartening. The most dominating Cerberus player was without a doubt H. Van Der Borght. J. Trippaers on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 2.