Geppetto 2 - 1 U.S.Arezzo (381740226)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 30508 that came out to Geppetto Arena. Per Holand was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Iván Lupis and Vlad Ganea. Geppetto had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Orkondonagoitia - Bazsó, Maubach, Karpenko - Boti, Dwornikowski, bin Daud, Olijslager - Abaroa, Rasom, Calabrese.

U.S.Arezzo decided to use a 5-2-3 set up. Starters: Barros Silva - Dobrun, Penz, Hadad, Gunyhó, Carmona - Mondini, Batha - Pistarà, Fogeltorp, Ongüş.

For their match strategy, U.S.Arezzo had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. L. Abaroa gave Geppetto the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 T. Fogeltorp was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a U.S.Arezzo counterattack from the left after 20 minutes. His neat finish made the score 1 - 1. Geppetto's P. Maubach tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. Many thought F. Rasom ought to have been awarded a penalty 25 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around F. Barros Silva after a determined run through the middle. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to Geppetto, who controlled the ball 76 percent of the time.

The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to D. Dwornikowski, but the Geppetto player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! Good work by the U.S.Arezzo defensive line after 77 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found F. Mondini alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. With 83 minutes played, Geppetto's L. Abaroa almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. Geppetto claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 76 percent.

Geppetto's best player was M. Calabrese. On the other hand, P. Olijslager's play was disheartening. The most dominating U.S.Arezzo player was without a doubt G. Pistarà. R. Penz turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 1.