Photo 4 - 1 Sappada (382057412)

5786 fans braved the pouring rain at Canon Arena. Ðuro Pekota was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Pedro Filipe Espinosa and Neeme Nagla. Photo decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. They fielded: Marghella - Ronacher, Rovatti - Schiappi, Ghisalberti, Tepša, Kerle, Mogoşan - Cucciniello, Gullstén, Serrano.

Sappada tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: De Capitani di Vimercate - Varcaro, Bellori, Da Pos, Ghirlanda - Gazzella, Panioto, Caramelli, Corvaja - Valecce, Filattiera.

Photo clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. With 18 minutes played A. Schiappi almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Photo, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to A. Schiappi, but the Photo player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! Photo were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. M. Serrano squirmed through their central defence after 34 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. Photo solidified their lead at the 35 minute mark, as E. Gullstén dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Photo lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 3 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Photo, with 70 percent of the ball.

54 minutes into the game, Sappada's P. Ghirlanda surprised the visitors with a raking cross-field pass to M. Filattiera who easily found the back of the net, making the score 3 - 1. The rain made it hard for players like T. Ronacher to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. E. Agostinelli was called on to replace Sappada's M. Bellori after 70 minutes following a nasty collision. Photo had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. 73 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as M. Serrano broke through, making the score 4 - 1 for Photo. Photo put in a good effort on the right, but E. Kerle saw his volley fly wide of the mark 81 minutes into the game. A. Schiappi had a fantastic opportunity to put Photo up another goal 83 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Possession in this half belonged to Photo, who controlled the ball 75 percent of the time.

Photo's best player was E. Cucciniello. G. Rovatti was a disappointment, however. Sappada's top performer was clearly C. Valecce. G. Da Pos on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 1.