Gabriel 3 - 0 Bonifato (381889380)

Dark skies made the crowd of 17784 at Hyde Park a little nervous, but the rain held off. Anton H. Åkesson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hugo Oscar Blanco and Heimko Rädke. Gabriel had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Versijpt - Padło, Oró, Opsal, Mückenheim - Gilleman, Dantz, Compagnucci, Govaert, Popov - Zabalburu.

Bonifato started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Olas - Ndiour, Harasimczuk, Castaldo - Moreira Guerreiro, Amodeo, Congedo, Sillicani, Nevair - Muggli, Peralta.

The wings were the focus of most of Gabriel's attacks today. Slack defending gave Gabriel a chance to take the lead with 21 minutes played, but T. Popov's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. Gabriel had a good opportunity to take the lead as F. Dantz came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of M. Olas. Bonifato's S. Ndiour got himself booked for a foul. Bonifato had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 34 minutes in when P. Congedo came up alone against L. Versijpt who managed a block. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Gabriel, who controlled the ball 67 percent of the time.

Gabriel had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. After 51 minutes, M. Govaert came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Gabriel the lead. The bench was restless, and with 78 minutes passed Bonifato's coach gave H. Euba the opportunity the player had been hoping for. S. Ndiour reluctantly left the field. Gabriel had to make a substitution after 79 minutes. B. Padło limped off the field and was replaced by P. Heersema. Gabriel's F. Dantz showed off his trademark ability to do the unexpected with a tricky pass after 82 minutes. Unfortunately, F. Gilleman was startled by the play and wasn't able to control the finish. Gabriel solidified their lead at the 86 minute mark, as T. Popov dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 2 - 0. Players in Gabriel heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. After 89 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and T. Opsal gave the Gabriel supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 0. By now, the players in Gabriel felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Gabriel, with 69 percent of the ball.

Most important Gabriel player was I. Zabalburu. M. Govaert on the other hand, had a terrible day. J. Harasimczuk performed admirably for Bonifato. On the other hand, S. Amodeo's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 0.