Berzaine 4 - 4 Aino (381505535)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 30567 to Elvi Centre. Luis Millapan was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Giovanni De Angelis and Mario Schmatzer. Berzaine had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Birkerts - Lambergs, Liavonszyk, Čevers - Kyuner, Pakshin, Cymbal, Eihels-Zīle, Balodis - Gardovskis, Malkovský.

Aino tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Abate - Gottardi, Runesson, Nelson - Poleksić, Hartrott, Gécsek, Koppenol, Mangan - Dingehouts, Brūnais.

Today, Aino's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. After 2 minutes, Aino put themselves up 0 - 1, as M. Hartrott finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. Berzaine's P. Pakshin had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 22 minutes having been played. J. Blūmiņš was the replacement. No matter how hard he tried, V. Malkovský just couldn't get his shot past the visitors' right side defence after 23 minutes. H. Vashkevich was called on to replace Berzaine's A. Birkerts after 28 minutes following a nasty collision. With 30 minutes played, Aino put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was M. Hartrott. Berzaine's V. Malkovský cut towards the middle after 43 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Berzaine, with 55 percent of the ball.

With a shot curled in from just outside the middle of the penalty area after 53 minutes played, E. Eihels-Zīle of Berzaine made the score 2 - 2. L. Nelson would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. J. Bartnik entered the game for Aino as the match clock showed 60 minutes. As the 60 minute mark approached, the Aino coach decided it was time for a substitution. S. Koppenol reluctantly made way for C. Leguennec on the pitch. 70 minutes into the game, Aino wanted to bring some new energy to their game. F. Gécsek gave R. Groene a quick hug as he left the field. Aino had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 75 minutes in when A. Dingehouts came up alone against H. Vashkevich who managed a block. Berzaine took the lead after 76 minutes as a result of V. Malkovský's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 3 - 2. Aino had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. M. Hartrott tied the game at 3 - 3 after 79 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. By then M. Hartrott had scored three goals - a hat trick! The home crowd was not impressed by the fancy moves of Aino's A. Gottardi after 82 minutes. He converted a pass from the left for a goal, resulting in the visitors taking the 3 - 4 lead. Due to some great work on the right wing Berzaine's E. Eihels-Zīle was able to even the score after 85 minutes to make the score 4 - 4. Berzaine claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

Berzaine's best player was N. Gardovskis. H. Vashkevich on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Aino player was M. Hartrott. However, M. Runesson made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 4.