Plutonese 0 - 12 Faenza (381759420)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 12000 to San Pluto arena. Alvin Mörnbratt was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Friso Ariaans and Franc Penca. Plutonese started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Lineup: Scaramuzza - Semenzin, Puppa, Lopez, Agresta - Culicchia, Aspero, Spaziani, Candeli - Mazziotti, Carrieri.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Faenza. The following players had been chosen: Ageev - Amann, Konraad, Bausola, Casaburo - Dioguardi, Quintans, Temelakiev, Žagar, Caramelli - Vasilescu.

Faenza took the lead 17 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. L. Temelakiev was the scorer. Plutonese's M. Scaramuzza had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 23 minutes having been played. G. Tota was the replacement. After 24 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for S. Bausola who increased Faenza's lead to 0 - 2. U. Semenzin got left behind when Faenza's M. Caramelli made a sudden run forward after 34 minutes, finishing off with a neat strike. 0 - 3! Confident in their lead, Faenza's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. 36 minutes into the game, Faenza had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to weak. With 39 minutes played, Faenza put themselves up 0 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was A. Quintans. The visitors' L. Temelakiev took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 40 minutes into the match. 0 - 5 for Faenza. After 42 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave G. Vasilescu a chance to increase the lead for Faenza, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 6. 0 - 6 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Faenza, with 81 percent of the ball.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Faenza had passable organisation. A. Quintans wanted to play on, but the Faenza coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 50 minutes into the game by P. Fux. In a rapid move 56 minutes into the match, M. Caramelli of Faenza lost his man and passed the ball to the unmarked G. Vasilescu who easily hit it home to make it 0 - 7. Luckily the ref didn't see him taunting the opposing fans in celebration - naughty boy! As usual, U. Semenzin tried to use his strength and hard work for the benefit of the team, but the heat hit him hard and he couldn't keep pace at all. 63 minutes into the game a free kick by M. Konraad found its way through the home side's poorly assembled defensive formation, making Faenza's lead 0 - 8. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Faenza coach let V. Micozzi replace G. Vasilescu after 65 minutes. The home crowd was not impressed when P. Fux came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 71 minutes. Faenza were now up 0 - 9. 77 minutes into the game, Faenza seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable. The coach of Faenza was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 80 minutes, A. Salatelli came on for S. Bausola. After 80 minutes, the Faenza players received new instructions from their manager on how to keep in control of the game. The Faenza coach was visibly pleased with the score so far, but still ordered a few tactical changes 80 minutes into the game. V. Micozzi received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 80 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 10. The Faenza fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. S. Žagar of Faenza took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 81 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 11. The Faenza free kick 85 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of V. Micozzi, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 0 - 12! Possession in this half belonged to Faenza, who controlled the ball 85 percent of the time.

Plutonese's best player was A. Mazziotti. However, M. Agresta made a disastrous appearance. H. Amann performed admirably for Faenza. On the other hand, A. Salatelli's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 12.