AMBIENTAL 3 - 1 latini (380910060)

It had rained all day, but 13346 hardy fans still made it out to MOCANII Arena. Branimir Seder was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Heinrich von Wartburg and Abdel Hassan Qadi. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for AMBIENTAL. Lineup: Suárez - Senden, Bettges, Gâlea, Vietzke - Reynaert, Enzinger, Endner, Dorne - Friis, Cerino.

latini tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Gökdoğan - Apostiu, Sarlós, Rădiţă - Malacu, Coşobea, Guţă, Otiman, Creţu - Leaţă, Buştean.

The strategy for AMBIENTAL was to use their ability to press. The pressing tactics used by AMBIENTAL were successful as the ball remained close to the half way line at all times. AMBIENTAL could have put themselves ahead after 8 minutes but O. Endner missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. latini's R. Otiman was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 11 minutes. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when M. Leaţă was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 13 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! S. Rădiţă received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 20 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. The visitors were very close to gaining the lead with a marvellous free kick after 21 minutes, but B. Suárez made a beautiful one-handed save. They were singing the praises of D. Vietzke 26 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 1 - 0 to AMBIENTAL. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by AMBIENTAL, with 54 percent of the ball.

J. Friis didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 75 minutes, latini did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, S. Rădiţă was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 1 - 1. R. Otiman of latini got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game. 82 minutes into the match and the home team took a 2 - 1 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for AMBIENTAL was C. Gâlea. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. D. Vietzke squirmed through their central defence after 84 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 1. At this time in the match, AMBIENTAL were using their skill at pressing to successfully stifle the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Enzinger from AMBIENTAL a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 86 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! AMBIENTAL had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

The most dominating AMBIENTAL player was without a doubt M. Senden. T. Reynaert turned in a dismal performance, however. latini's best player was A. Buştean. On the other hand, P. Sarlós's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 1.