hall 4 - 2 RoMa (382030055)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 9944 to star stadium. Ole Stenhaug was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ismail Al-Mukhaithi and Tore Strauss. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for hall. The following players had been chosen: Silva Nobre - Acerbi, Ganiev, Benkendorff - Griesenbeck, Desormeaux, Vanhelmont, Kaczyński, Waldis - Adolfsson, Belardinelli.

RoMa decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players took the field: Schifauer - Ranua, Mathiesen, Sintnicolaas - Ruysdael, Begonha, Zecchino, Seung Han - Grobelski, Vinter, Bramming.

hall seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. RoMa used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. hall players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. At 9 minutes played, P. Benkendorff came in from the right with the intention of giving hall the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. With 22 minutes played, R. Desormeaux of hall fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. With 23 minutes played, RoMa's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to T. Ranua he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 0 - 1. T. Kaczyński behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 24 minutes as he gave the ball away to C. Begonha. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 27 minutes into the match, an alert R. Desormeaux bagged the ball for hall, levelling the score to 1 - 1. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by hall, with 60 percent of the ball.

Given a free kick in a difficult position after 69 minutes, hall tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 after 73 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from T. Kaczyński, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. hall put themselves up 3 - 1 when J. Adolfsson broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Confident in their lead, hall's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. The visitors got one back when J. Vinter finished off a pass from the left and scored after 79 minutes. 3 - 2 was the score. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. P. Benkendorff squirmed through their central defence after 86 minutes, increasing the lead to 4 - 2. RoMa's S. Zecchino was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 88 minutes. hall enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

hall's top performer was clearly J. Adolfsson. G. Griesenbeck turned in a dismal performance, however. K. Bramming performed admirably for RoMa. On the other hand, S. Zecchino's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 2.