Galacticos 0 - 2 Digitalcom (381666648)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 58000 had shown up at AS Galacticos Arena for the match. Henrik Pihldahl was the appointed referee with assistance provided by José Caravantes and Paul Schlachter. Galacticos started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Skjødt - Bursuk, Tadić, 任豪 (Renhao) - Irigoyen, Kamerman, Laneve, Ponticelli, Radwan - Holtzman, Sgariglia.

Digitalcom tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. Starters: Ensinger - Vaucher, Ricatti, Di Marco, Mitev - Poli, Bruguera, Kovačević - Bartolini, Maccarrone, Calderini.

Digitalcom were relying on their ability to counter-attack. At 8 minutes played, V. Bursuk came in from the right with the intention of giving Galacticos the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. Digitalcom mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 9 minutes, but F. Bartolini was unable to convert from short range. 12 minutes into the game, Digitalcom seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to inadequate. 15 minutes in, Digitalcom's A. Di Marco received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Galacticos were very close to putting themselves one up after 19 minutes as L. Sgariglia got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Good work by the Digitalcom defensive line after 20 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found F. Bartolini alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. Many thought G. Laneve ought to have been awarded a penalty 29 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around S. Ensinger after a determined run through the middle. A. Di Marco was first to reach a ball launched long through the center from Digitalcom's defence 30 minutes into the game. He managed to keep his cool and beat the goalkeeper to make the score 0 - 1. 32 minutes in, Digitalcom appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only weak. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Galacticos claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 70 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Digitalcom had solid organisation. With 50 minutes played, the Galacticos coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. E. Biesterveld came on, V. Bursuk had to leave the fray. Galacticos's D. Holtzman made a successful breakthrough on the left after 50 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. After 52 minutes, the defensive line of Digitalcom created a counterattack through the middle that gave L. Maccarrone a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. The coach of Digitalcom was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 55 minutes, T. Mpakalakos came on for N. Kovačević. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Galacticos manager used a brief break in play after 55 minutes to give the players new directives. E. Poli wanted to play on, but the Digitalcom coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 60 minutes into the game by A. Reiser. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Galacticos's E. Biesterveld was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 70 minutes. M. Arcangeli was given a chance to change things around. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 75 minutes, Galacticos tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. A drive down the left side allowed A. Reiser to get in close and score another goal for Digitalcom after 76 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 2. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Digitalcom coach let J. Iguiñaga replace L. Maccarrone after 76 minutes. By now, the players in Digitalcom felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Possession in this half belonged to Galacticos, who controlled the ball 62 percent of the time.

Most important Galacticos player was L. Sgariglia. M. Arcangeli turned in a dismal performance, however. Digitalcom's best player was F. Bartolini. However, B. Ricatti made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 2.