Kursaal 1 - 2 Tergeste (381662659)

Dark skies made the crowd of 51492 at La tana dei leoni a little nervous, but the rain held off. Frédéric Montreuil was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Karl Karnebeek and Jan Läfholt. Kursaal decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Godtfred - Edens, Schickel, Grisez - Polojärvi, Godoy, Macheritsas, Maza, Adamidis - Ibn-Latif, Lanzani.

Tergeste tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Frizione - Parodi, Granatiero, Graziano, Romaniello - Mariconda, Farnè, Salucci, De Loreto - Bavastro, Cerdelli.

Tergeste used their skill at pressing to cut off the attack angles of their opponents all over the field. As the 1 minute mark approached, the Kursaal coach decided it was time for a substitution. R. Godoy reluctantly made way for M. Ermiye on the pitch. 1 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Kursaal substitution. F. Houli came on for M. Lanzani. Tergeste pressed their opponents, causing the game to be a bit of a stalemate at times. 13 minutes into the game, Tergeste had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to solid. Tergeste's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. Tergeste took the lead after A. Granatiero curved a free kick into the net. 0 - 1 After 24 minutes, Kursaal were awarded a free kick. Rather than shooting straight at goal, the taker went for an indirect variant which seemed to take his team mates a bit by surprise. F. Houli did attempt a finish, but from an awkward position, sending the ball into the away fans. The referee showed Kursaal's F. Houli the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Kursaal's opponents know to be wary of D. Adamidis's speed, but it made little difference as he flew past the defence 33 minutes into the game. Only the keeper could stop him - and he did with a perfectly timed dive! 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Kursaal enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

During the break, Tergeste's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. Tergeste's talent at pressing frustrated the spectators as the game became a dire midfield struggle. A drive down the left side allowed F. Cerdelli to get in close and score another goal for Tergeste after 64 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 2. The players of Tergeste now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. It took several tries, but Kursaal managed to break through on the left after 82 minutes, getting the ball to I. Ibn-Latif who easily reduced the lead to make the score 1 - 2. Kursaal needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 89 minutes F. Houli made way for A. Lepp. Kursaal claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

The most dominating Kursaal player was without a doubt A. Godtfred. However, A. Lepp made a disastrous appearance. Most important Tergeste player was A. De Loreto. F. Cerdelli on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.