DEVASTANTI 6 - 1 skidmania (381668671)

Dark skies made the crowd of 52939 at "Hurricane Arena" a little nervous, but the rain held off. Juho Verhelä was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Matthijs van de Horst and Jakob Adriansen. DEVASTANTI decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Starters: Almeida - Becerra, Saartola - Schaffhauser, Ringhio, Trévisan, Alaimo, Dybaly - Casanova, Boatella, Santilocchi.

A 4-3-3 alignment was the formation of choice for skidmania. The following players took the field: Nemetz - Csobánka, Nägeli, Bentancour, Cardino - Driest, Matteini, Perono Garoffo - Cassia, Carassa, Steri.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of skidmania. H. Almeida looked great 10 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' F. Matteini. After 12 minutes of play, DEVASTANTI's C. Dybaly unexpectedly struck an inside out ball from no angle at all and G. Casanova slotted it into the net for 1 - 0. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. G. Santilocchi squirmed through their central defence after 18 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. 28 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as G. Boatella broke through, making the score 3 - 0 for DEVASTANTI. The players of DEVASTANTI now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. T. Nägeli of skidmania was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Alaimo from DEVASTANTI a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 38 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The player down was T. Nemetz. The skidmania bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. As the game started to slip away for skidmania, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. DEVASTANTI's G. Boatella swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. It was 3 - 0 at the break. DEVASTANTI enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 70 percent of possession.

H. Almeida wanted to play on, but the DEVASTANTI coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by A. Draaisma. The goal to make it 3 - 1 was scored by T. Nägeli after 48 minutes, following an opportunistic counterattack down the middle by skidmania. skidmania certainly deserved a goal after some stunning play down the left, but T. Driest just wasn't able to finish. V. Saartola of DEVASTANTI seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 4 - 1 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by G. Santilocchi. T. Nägeli knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the skidmania player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. Y. Trévisan of DEVASTANTI had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. R. Banchero came in to finish the match. DEVASTANTI were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty 83 minutes into the match, which was neatly put away by G. Santilocchi. 5 - 1 for the home side. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, F. Matteini got himself booked. The manager of skidmania was not happy. With 86 minutes played, DEVASTANTI put themselves up 6 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to G. Santilocchi, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. That made three goals for G. Santilocchi and he was marked down for the hat trick. L. Lokhorst was called on to replace DEVASTANTI's R. Banchero after 87 minutes following a nasty collision. DEVASTANTI had most of the ball, with 72 percent of possession.

DEVASTANTI's top performer was clearly G. Casanova. On the other hand, A. Draaisma's play was disheartening. F. Carassa performed admirably for skidmania. F. Bentancour on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 6 - 1.