Carciofi 1 - 1 Falcao (382035268)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 17934 at Carciofi Arena today. Wolfgang Faustenhammer was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Niklas Hansson and Egon Levgrün. Carciofi tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Veitas - Greifeinstein, Zorloni, Boncompagni, Barile - Toma, Boerhave, Gaitanis, Petrović - Gróf, Málaga.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Falcao. They fielded: Dingler - Jarrín, Villarino, Wickühler, Voermans - Shamugia, Ilić, Vázquez, Kiukas - Herdeiro, Xhezo.

13 minutes in, Falcao's V. Shamugia received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Falcao's V. Shamugia was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - P. Xhezo managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 0 - 1 after 31 minutes. Falcao came close to extending their lead as P. Xhezo delivered a low effort on goal from the right after 37 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Falcao had most of the ball, with 51 percent of possession.

Had it not been for one of the home defenders, C. Jarrín would have put Falcao up another goal 49 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from D. Herdeiro after 56 minutes, and prevented Falcao from going up another goal. R. Gróf made a superb strike after 62 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors' defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Carciofi, but N. Petrović's shot went over the bar. E. Gaitanis showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 79 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. Possession in this half belonged to Carciofi, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

The most dominating Carciofi player was without a doubt R. Gróf. On the other hand, B. Veitas's play was disheartening. Falcao's top performer was clearly D. Herdeiro. I. Voermans turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 1.