Sporting 3 - 4 mikkio (381688923)

Dark skies made the crowd of 21581 at Beton Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Lokmalhakim bin Nor was the appointed referee with assistance provided by René Cmunt and Calle Falskog. Sporting decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. Starters: Cambareri - Dum, Eriks, Isolabella - Ciucă, Basile, De los Santos, Unguris - Righetti, Pipitone, Heckle.

mikkio started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Rivière - Maza, Chatzipetros, Kälviäinen - Faruk, Danielsson, Taterka, Truqué, Brūklis - Morgenstern, Shalom.

Sporting clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. mikkio tried to focus their attacks down the middle. mikkio took the lead 8 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. R. Maza was the scorer. mikkio players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. S. Danielsson received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 11 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The mikkio fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. mikkio's G. Brūklis got himself booked for a foul. With 30 minutes played, Sporting's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to P. De los Santos he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 2. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Sporting, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. Sporting showed their counterattack skill 32 minutes into the match by breaking through the middle, with D. Heckle scoring uncontested for 2 - 2. The most controversial moment of the game was likely the penalty given after 33 minutes. mikkio's C. Truqué kept his concentration, despite the upset crowd, and calmly put the ball past the keeper to make the score 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by mikkio, with 56 percent of the ball.

Sporting's O. Basile was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 66 minutes. With 74 minutes played, C. Morgenstern nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. 75 minutes in, Sporting's G. Unguris received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With 76 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, R. Maza needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. It was obvious that team Sporting had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. The crowd roared in delight as H. Dum finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for Sporting 78 minutes into the match. 3 - 3. The referee showed Sporting's B. Eriks the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. P. De los Santos of Sporting received a yellow card after 80 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. mikkio were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. 3 - 4 was the score with 82 minutes played, after Z. Shalom cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for mikkio. mikkio enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

Sporting's top performer was clearly C. Righetti. G. Unguris was a disappointment, however. mikkio's best player was C. Truqué. On the other hand, R. Maza's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 4.