lions 2 - 7 Devils (381033708)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 23400 to tsimerman arena. Baldassarre Persiani was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Maurizio Fron and Eric Kügler. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for lions. The following players had been chosen: Loronha - Pannocchi, Colombo, Mossakowski - Lähdesmäki, Dupuis, Ralea, Barbu, Schladitz - Fransen, Marin.

Devils decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Clancy - Piwowarski, Hurtík, Marques - Matarrese, Carmeli, Andersen, Bokelaar, Vignolini - Włoszczyński, Kurpanik.

B. Schladitz caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 19 minutes. This gave lions the 1 - 0 lead. Several players seemed a little dazed by the warm weather, and were repeatedly tricked by the clever and agile B. Schladitz. lions's Z. Mossakowski saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 30 minutes. The Devils free kick 35 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of R. Vignolini, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 1 - 1! 1 - 2 was the score with 36 minutes played, after R. Vignolini cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Devils. Some fine movement on the left led to a Devils goal after 39 minutes, making it 1 - 3. J. Włoszczyński was noted down as the scorer. lions's J. Fransen cut towards the middle after 40 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Devils, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from R. Hurtík after 51 minutes, and prevented Devils from going up another goal. With 52 minutes played, E. Colombo of lions fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. A drive down the left side allowed T. Kurpanik to get in close and score another goal for Devils after 58 minutes, taking the score to 2 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Devils lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. After 65 minutes, Devils's G. Bokelaar burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 2 - 5. G. Bokelaar received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 74 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 2 - 6. The Devils fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. Devils had to make a substitution after 78 minutes. R. Vignolini limped off the field and was replaced by A. Trobec. The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when S. Marin tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. J. Clancy was too alert for that! With 80 minutes played, Devils put themselves up 2 - 7 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was J. Włoszczyński. The sunny day didn't make things easy for T. Kurpanik who didn't seem his usual powerful self on the pitch. The home side worked hard to get through the middle and as a result, had a good chance of getting one back as T. Lähdesmäki tried lifting the ball over keeper J. Clancy. Unfortunately, the ball went just over the bar. As D. Matarrese had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Devils player a red card without batting an eyelid. Devils claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

Most important lions player was J. Fransen. On the other hand, A. Loronha's play was disheartening. J. Włoszczyński performed admirably for Devils. A. Trobec on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 7.