Franciscana 3 - 1 grossvaitzar (380897915)

11598 punters turned up at Meine Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Mototsugu Kitazawa was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bastien Peschel and Róbert Hidegkuti. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Franciscana. Lineup: Davidsson - Santos, Grabow, Užolas, Würmli - Bučor, Jongejan, Cipri, Jar - Truão, Lanza.

grossvaitzar started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Gustavsson - Sabynich, Hungerbühler, Zvietich - Vulpe, Teivaanmäki, Hristov, Deglius, Lepore - Marconi, Ichim.

Franciscana tried to focus their attacks down the middle. 23 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for Franciscana was C. Lanza. grossvaitzar tied it all up, 30 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by Ž. Deglius, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 1 - 1. Franciscana created a good opportunity to score 32 minutes into the match when G. Truão's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. After a fine move down the middle V. Jar nearly gave the home side a goal after 38 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Franciscana, with 57 percent of the ball.

S. Vulpe really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great play by O. Zvietich after a corner. Franciscana had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to J. Würmli, but the Franciscana player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! With 79 minutes played, G. Truão of Franciscana fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. The visitors almost came back with an equaliser 80 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but when S. Marconi tried to finish the attack, he couldn't deliver the shot hard enough to seriously challenge the keeper. W. Jongejan had a fantastic opportunity to put Franciscana up another goal 84 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. It was obvious that team Franciscana had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. 85 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as V. Jar broke through, making the score 3 - 1 for Franciscana. After 87 minutes grossvaitzar's Ž. Deglius limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. grossvaitzar kept trying to force their way through on the right side and D. Ichim got his chance after 87 minutes, but the home side's defence held their position and stopped the attack. Franciscana enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

M. Užolas performed admirably for Franciscana. A. Davidsson turned in a dismal performance, however. grossvaitzar's best player was D. Ichim. On the other hand, R. Gustavsson's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 1.