MIKOAPA 5 - 4 Motike (382510340)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 20423 to DUNAVSKA Arena. Nelu Ghitã was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Markus Magnusson and Torben Eckhart. MIKOAPA had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Radaelli - Quaresma, Größling, Meinen, Csata - Caboni, Bertényi, Shelestov, Balyakov, Virtanen - Arrua.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Motike. Lineup: Puissant - Morante, Couderc, Baljković - Plisnić, Hanczakowski, Radmanović, Travassos, Dokić - Knorr, Escribano.

MIKOAPA were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Motike took the lead after 10 minutes making the score 0 - 1. J. Knorr placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Attacking on the wings was the choice for MIKOAPA, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. The home crowd was not impressed when M. Hanczakowski came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 35 minutes. Motike were now up 0 - 2. D. Balyakov charged down the left and looked sure to score for MIKOAPA 36 minutes into the game, but his shot went just wide. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Motike had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

Z. Plisnić made a nice dash down the wing after 50 minutes, but was unable to get the cross into the box. A goal kick was awarded. S. Couderc increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 3. The players of Motike now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when D. Balyakov scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 1 - 3. With 79 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed A. Baljković of Motike to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 4. Motike's M. Hanczakowski was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 80 minutes. At 83 minutes into the game, MIKOAPA's R. Arrua deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 2 - 4. MIKOAPA reduced the lead to 3 - 4 with 84 minutes on the clock when R. Arrua got the best of a ball floated in from the left. It was showtime for artist R. Arrua who showed off his technical mastery when he rounded R. Morante and finished with a goal to make the score 4 - 4. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for R. Arrua. They were singing the praises of R. Arrua 88 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 5 - 4 to MIKOAPA. Possession in this half belonged to MIKOAPA, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

R. Arrua performed admirably for MIKOAPA. A. Quaresma turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Motike player was without a doubt C. Escribano. V. Radmanović on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 4.