DEVASTANTI 3 - 0 VaVa (381668659)

A scorching day at "Hurricane Arena", where 36832 spectators were in place for today's match. Renato Magalhães was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Lóránt Regős and Roberto Massardi. DEVASTANTI started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Bondin - Becerra, Saartola, Lokhorst - Banchero, Ringhio, Trévisan, Alaimo, Schaffhauser - Casanova, Santilocchi.

VaVa had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. The following players took the field: Gardziński - Gallotti, Stumpf - de Kerchove d'Ousselgem, Madini, Liserre, Baselice, Stănculescu - Argomenni, Ferrario, Arcolin.

Making his way up the middle 13 minutes into the match, Y. Trévisan almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert W. Gardziński blocked it to keep the score level. DEVASTANTI took the lead 14 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as G. Casanova elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. After 26 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by V. Saartola might have resulted in another goal for DEVASTANTI. However, W. Gardziński made a spectacular save. With 36 minutes played, DEVASTANTI's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to L. Lokhorst he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 2 - 0. With 37 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, A. Gallotti needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Halftime score was 2 - 0. DEVASTANTI claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 74 percent.

The coach of DEVASTANTI was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 46 minutes, A. Płecha came on for R. Bondin. After 59 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and G. Casanova gave the DEVASTANTI supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of DEVASTANTI lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. C. Ringhio could have increased the lead after 64 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. G. Santilocchi didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. Possession in this half belonged to DEVASTANTI, who controlled the ball 73 percent of the time.

Most important DEVASTANTI player was G. Santilocchi. On the other hand, A. Płecha's play was disheartening. The most dominating VaVa player was without a doubt M. Liserre. E. Baselice turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 0.