SPORTING 1 - 1 étrangère (381833335)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 13665 at STADIO OLIMPICO "SPORTING" today. Tambet Vaagen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Robert Săceanu and Gilberto Bernhauer. SPORTING decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Masson - Ciccioli, Ririhena, Neri - Mourabit, Hajdaraga, Carruezzo, Spasov, Pankratau - Santoro, Saidon.

étrangère had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Jiménez Levita - Ariani, Bjørndalen, Bagnoli - Tzalik, Rodell, Moreno, Bastide, Niklas - Caldelas, Gabitzer.

SPORTING saw most attack opportunities on the wings. The referee showed SPORTING's A. Carruezzo the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The étrangère free kick 38 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 M. Gabitzer, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 0 - 1! 0 - 1 was the halftime score. étrangère had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Rodell from étrangère a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 47 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! SPORTING were forced into a substitution as F. Ririhena couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing L. Donei to come in off the bench. The SPORTING coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. SPORTING needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 74 minutes K. Spasov made way for A. Kemplaire. The bench was restless, and with 78 minutes passed SPORTING's coach gave C. Calvi the opportunity the player had been hoping for. M. Pankratau reluctantly left the field. With 81 minutes having been played, SPORTING scored to make it 1 - 1. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but E. Saidon was marked down as the scorer. étrangère claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

SPORTING's top performer was clearly E. Saidon. On the other hand, A. Kemplaire's play was disheartening. Most important étrangère player was D. Bastide. E. Moreno was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 1.