Germain 5 - 3 CapitanTsubasa (381732745)

Due to an all-day shower, 21393 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Saint Germain Arena. Jan Handelsby was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jesús Pablo Martín and Aleksy Marszał. Germain started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Haiderali - Schweren, Gülsim, Di Paola - Fèvre, Tilli, Pompole, Hirviniemi, Phúc Yến - Nebuda, Hungría.

CapitanTsubasa decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Marksteiner - Zuliani, Lemmi, Topazzini - Chiarani, Desormeaux, Leiva, Lafitte, Mikaere - Atanasov, Mrazek.

Today, CapitanTsubasa's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. N. Lafitte did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. After 34 minutes, the visitors nearly went up a goal, but C. Lemmi's free kick hit the crossbar. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 36 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from J. Hirviniemi, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. Cheers filled the stadium as L. Nebuda broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 2 - 0 to Germain. The players of Germain now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The visitors' right side was dangerous today; N. Lafitte made the home team's keeper look foolish as he easily reduced the lead to make it 2 - 1 43 minutes into the match. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Germain's M. Hungría increasing the lead to 3 - 1. The game was characterised by rough play and many physical challenges on the wet field, but M. Mrazek showed great heart and had a good game. Halftime score was 3 - 1. Germain claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, CapitanTsubasa's T. Mikaere was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 59 minutes. T. Ok was given a chance to change things around. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their N. Lafitte reduced the lead to make it 3 - 2 after 59 minutes, following a pass from the right. Germain increased the lead as U. Schweren struck to make the score 4 - 2 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. M. Di Paola squirmed through their central defence after 71 minutes, increasing the lead to 5 - 2. With 75 minutes played, the CapitanTsubasa coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. R. Peneda came on, N. Lafitte had to leave the fray. R. Peneda was handed the CapitanTsubasa captain's armband. CapitanTsubasa managed to reduce the score to 5 - 3 as T. Ok finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. After 78 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by V. Fèvre might have resulted in another goal for Germain. However, C. Marksteiner made a spectacular save. Players in CapitanTsubasa heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. CapitanTsubasa had a fair chance to reply after 79 minutes due to some fine moves down the left, but in the end M. Mrazek was slow to keep up with the play and was unable to make it into the penalty box to apply a finish. Possession in this half belonged to Germain, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

Most important Germain player was M. Di Paola. U. Schweren on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating CapitanTsubasa player was without a doubt M. Mrazek. A. Topazzini turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 5 - 3.