Latino 4 - 2 Nightstar (381753609)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Azul Arena saw a crowd turnout of 27951. Rafael Pla was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jos Boerboom and Olof Johansson. Latino decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Kapuściok - Sunesson, Bertalan, Nesterenkov - De Cecco, Heumeier, Maga, Shajarian, Macchiarini - Las Casas, Carlos.

Nightstar started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. They fielded: Sterdiadis - Paniagua, Querol - Pettersson, Briand, Carciofi, Piccinato, Szczechla - Crnkovič, Mitropanos, 岡田 (Okada).

Nightstar were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. B. Bertalan got left behind when Nightstar's E. Mitropanos made a sudden run forward after 15 minutes, finishing off with a neat strike. 0 - 1! J. Sunesson showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 16 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. Nightstar were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when M. Szczechla was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 24 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! Nightstar's E. Mitropanos left the field after 29 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was F. Bedetti. Latino could have put themselves ahead after 29 minutes but N. Las Casas missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. 30 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but L. Piccinato, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. Nightstar had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 31 minutes into the match, and G. Crnkovič wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 1 - 2 for the visitors. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Latino, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

A. Kapuściok got a fingertip on F. Bedetti's shot from the left 53 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. L. Briand left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 55 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. B. Pettersen was the replacement. The crowd was on its feet 64 minutes into the match, as Latino's H. Shajarian found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 2 - 2 equaliser. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, M. Heumeier scored for Latino putting them ahead 3 - 2, after 67 minutes. The referee showed Latino's M. Carlos the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Latino increased the lead as G. Macchiarini struck to make the score 4 - 2 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. Confident in their lead, Latino's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Latino had most of the ball, with 57 percent of possession.

M. Heumeier performed admirably for Latino. G. Macchiarini turned in a dismal performance, however. Nightstar's best player was G. Crnkovič. S. Sterdiadis was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 2.