O.F. 3 - 1 Forze (381663737)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 61453 had shown up at Bunker for the match. Sérgio Meireles was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Uriele Parmeggiani and Gonzalo Patano. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for O.F.. They fielded: Chodora - Custers, Desiut, Fadiga - Pavliuk, Videnov, Macrì, Mehrl, Nobbe - Lovša, Sidenström.

Forze started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Bolinth - Chevallier, Sunesson, Labis - Ñora, Rikardsson, Bonecki, Meléndez, á Kirkjuteigi - Schalke, Scharnhauser.

The wings were the focus of most of O.F.'s attacks today. As the 1 minute mark approached, the O.F. coach decided it was time for a substitution. P. Desiut reluctantly made way for H. Garrod on the pitch. P. Chodora would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. B. Knox entered the game for O.F. as the match clock showed 1 minutes. O.F.'s E. Pavliuk was shown a yellow card after 7 minutes for slicing down an opponent. R. Videnov gave O.F. the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 23 minutes in, Forze's D. Ñora received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. R. Videnov's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for O.F., he bravely continued in the match. Players in O.F. heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. The referee showed O.F.'s R. Videnov the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home side's N. Nobbe curled a free kick home after 34 minutes, putting O.F. ahead 2 - 0. It was 2 - 0 at the break. O.F. enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 58 percent of possession.

B. Knox made a brilliant save 64 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from R. Scharnhauser on the right hand side. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Forze manager used a brief break in play after 71 minutes to give the players new directives. After 72 minutes, Forze used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. As the game started to slip away for Forze, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. The home team's fans were upset when, after 76 minutes, the visiting G. Bonecki broke through the central defence and kicked the ball past the keeper. 2 - 1 was the score. With 77 minutes played, O.F. put themselves up 3 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to P. Macrì, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. O.F. claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent.

E. Pavliuk performed admirably for O.F.. R. Videnov on the other hand, had a terrible day. Forze's best player was R. Scharnhauser. G. Bonecki was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.