Rosso-Nerro 1 - 1 17NENTORI (380781900)

It had rained all day, but 44056 hardy fans still made it out to FIRE Arena. Ljubomir Kočić was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hugo Grönbrant and Klas Pettersson. Rosso-Nerro tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: West - Altomonte, Rennemo, Maraviglia, Hilling - Wedekind, Paz, Dalmau - Aciobăniţei, Ağırtan, Kornai.

A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for 17NENTORI. Lineup: Feliciano - Orgad, Butterhoff, Stanciu - Berg, Eler, Delp, Umkehrer-Neudeck - Krestýn, Hanker, Stolfi.

Rosso-Nerro tried to focus their attacks down the middle. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like K. Umkehrer-Neudeck. Many thought N. Hilling ought to have been awarded a penalty 4 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around L. Feliciano after a determined run through the middle. With 6 minutes played, M. Eler of 17NENTORI fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 10 minutes into the match, Rosso-Nerro's I. Aciobăniţei popped up from nowhere, cheekily stole the ball off an opposition player and scored. 1 - 0. Rosso-Nerro were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. N. Hilling had a fantastic opportunity to put Rosso-Nerro up another goal 20 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. J. Berg tied the game at 1 - 1 after 26 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. Rosso-Nerro's J. Dalmau left the field after 29 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was A. Steinicke. N. Hilling was handed the Rosso-Nerro captain's armband. 17NENTORI nearly produced a goal as K. Butterhoff set up J. Berg for a strike from a seemingly impossible angle. However he put the shot narrowly wide. 17NENTORI had to make a substitution after 36 minutes. U. Stolfi limped off the field and was replaced by M. Toma. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Rosso-Nerro, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. Rosso-Nerro's D. Kornai tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Rosso-Nerro claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

After a fine move down the middle R. Rennemo nearly gave the home side a goal after 50 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. Rosso-Nerro were very close to putting themselves one up after 58 minutes as J. Paz got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. It was a bad day for the usually speedy G. Hanker. The mud seemed to slow him down. F. Maraviglia of Rosso-Nerro was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. 78 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Rosso-Nerro to take the lead after a good cross from the right found D. Kornai alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. After 81 minutes, the visitors nearly went up a goal, but R. Krestýn's free kick hit the crossbar. Rosso-Nerro had most of the ball, with 55 percent of possession.

Rosso-Nerro's top performer was clearly D. Kornai. R. Rennemo turned in a dismal performance, however. J. Delp performed admirably for 17NENTORI. However, M. Toma made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1.