X-Team 2 - 4 TEHNOLOGICA (380201521)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Ecaterina Teodoroiu saw a crowd turnout of 14941. Bo Andersson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Erich Keil and Nuccio Leonardis. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for X-Team. The following players had been chosen: Donovan - Liegl, Burcea, Montes, Pădure - Diac, Luikinga, Neaga, Boros, Şnaider - Nagy.

TEHNOLOGICA started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: Ionică - Stilo, Martin-Egermann, Saluz, Zohmann, Paikert - Vilches, Roep, Piovani, Spoerlein - Smeyers.

X-Team saw most attack opportunities on the wings. TEHNOLOGICA were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. X-Team's G. Nagy refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 14 minutes. With 15 minutes played S. Burcea almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but the visitors' R. Ionică was onto it, grabbing the would be breakthrough ball. TEHNOLOGICA played a good counterattacking move down the left 22 minutes into the match, with L. Stilo finishing well for 0 - 1. 27 minutes in, X-Team's T. Luikinga received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Unfortunately for TEHNOLOGICA, R. Spoerlein was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. M. Teiu replaced him. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave W. Saluz from TEHNOLOGICA a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 34 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. X-Team had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

With 65 minutes played, the X-Team coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. Á. San Millán Díez came on, Z. Boros had to leave the fray. Due to some great work on the right wing X-Team's P. Montes was able to even the score after 67 minutes to make the score 1 - 1. After 84 minutes of play, the free-spirited G. Nagy decided to go for goal as he struck the ball from the corner of the pitch. The ball hit a defender in the face and bounced out of play. After 88 minutes, the defensive line of X-Team created a counterattack through the middle that gave P. Montes a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. S. Burcea was very close to giving X-Team the lead with an ingenious free kick routine 88 minutes into the match, but the ball just grazed the bar. Under heavy pressure after 89 minutes, the inexperienced X-Team struggled to maintain their level of play. X-Team claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of extra time followed. A review of the gameplan helped X-Team get back to a passable organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. I. Vilches got new instructions from the TEHNOLOGICA coach after 91 minutes. He changed positions with W. Saluz soon after. With the score still deadlocked after extra time, the teams took to the field for a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner.

Oooh - how unlucky! X-Team's D. Pădure attempt hit the underside of the bar, but rebounded down into the grateful arms of R. Ionică. The score stays 1 - 1. Clearly nervous from the start, TEHNOLOGICA's M. Zohmann took a long run up, but could only blast the ball over the bar. The score remains 1 - 1. X-Team's E. Şnaider looked like he knew exactly where he wanted to put the ball, but unfortunately his shot went wide of the left hand post. Still 1 - 1. TEHNOLOGICA's L. Piovani coolly put the ball past R. Donovan. 1 - 2. X-Team's Ş. Neaga showed he has nerves of steel when it comes to penalties, easily changing the score to 2 - 2. TEHNOLOGICA's J. Smeyers was relaxed as he smoothly put the ball in the net. 2 - 3! X-Team's C. Diac looked nervous even as he was putting the ball on the spot. He didn't take much of a run up, and his weak shot was easily saved by the keeper. TEHNOLOGICA's R. Martin-Egermann didn't look like he was confident as he stepped up, and produced a badly struck penalty - right into the arms of R. Donovan. The score remained 2 - 3. X-Team's Á. San Millán Díez looked like he knew exactly where he wanted to put the ball, but unfortunately his shot went wide of the left hand post. Still 2 - 3. TEHNOLOGICA's W. Saluz kept his cool as he faced down R. Donovan. His composure paid off as he scored easily for 2 - 4. The most dominating X-Team player was without a doubt T. Luikinga. R. Donovan on the other hand, had a terrible day. TEHNOLOGICA's top performer was clearly R. Roep. However, I. Vilches made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 4.