Fanaticos 3 - 5 Destination (382734293)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 38871 at The Home of Believers today. Carlos Gustavo Pasquale was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ludwik Zgłobicki and Leo Eggbo. Fanaticos tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Widmaier - Belonenko, Zohar, Delaporte - Maasilta, Simčič, Bourse, Nájera, Menichetti - Nederborn, Räim.

Destination started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Stepan - Dundovič, Drnovšek, Nash - Novak, Töllikkö, Lehocki, Gojčič, Rondeau - Sears, Milin.

It was an obvious ambition of Fanaticos to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. The home crowd was not impressed by the fancy moves of Destination's N. Novak after 5 minutes. He converted a pass from the left for a goal, resulting in the visitors taking the 0 - 1 lead. With the clock showing 21 minutes played, M. Räim equalised for Fanaticos after curling a free kick around the defensive wall to make the score 1 - 1. 26 minutes into the game, T. Sears had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. The visiting J. Nash was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 28 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Fanaticos, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 31 minutes into the match, an alert S. Bourse bagged the ball for Fanaticos, levelling the score to 2 - 2. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave F. Rondeau from Destination a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 38 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Fanaticos were forced into a substitution as I. Simčič couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing H. Vreeman to come in off the bench. Halftime score was 2 - 2. Destination had most of the ball, with 63 percent of possession.

The guests took the lead 47 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in M. Töllikkö scoring to make it 2 - 3. The Destination players could smell victory in the air. H. Dundovič wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for E. Maccioni after 66 minutes. The Destination captaincy was handed to R. Lehocki. 80 minutes into the match, Fanaticos's M. Räim maneuvered his way around the opposition on the left flank, delighting the crowd with his twists and turns. The effort paid off as the ball found the back of the net, evening the score at 3 - 3. Destination took the lead 81 minutes into the game, making the score 3 - 4 after some elegant movement down the middle. M. Töllikkö was the scorer. T. Sears could have added one to the visitors' lead if his free kick had gone just a little lower. After 85 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for M. Töllikkö who increased Destination's lead to 3 - 5. That made three goals for M. Töllikkö and he was marked down for the hat trick. Possession in this half belonged to Destination, who controlled the ball 65 percent of the time.

The most dominating Fanaticos player was without a doubt A. Menichetti. R. Belonenko was a disappointment, however. Destination's best player was T. Sears. E. Maccioni on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 5.