Retkovci 8 - 0 Marama (382881628)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 21410 at Blato Arena today. Herman Albers was the appointed referee with assistance provided by José Cerbán and Janusz Wierucki. Retkovci had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Dukowicz - Elli, Leid - Bertalanić, Pons, Scarlat, Kobr, Tanninen - Ollier, Crnobori, Hornok.

Marama started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Starters: Maroslavac - Stupar, Mileusnić, Šašo, Dunatov - Matoš, Puljić, Prohaska, Okoš - Šabić, Kiković.

Retkovci were clearly looking ahead to the next match rather than focusing on the one at hand. The wings were the focus of most of Retkovci's attacks today. With 6 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as M. Tanninen flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Retkovci, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. With 15 minutes played, Retkovci put themselves up 2 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to S. Elli, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Retkovci lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Retkovci had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. Š. Kobr could have put Retkovci up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 20 minutes. Retkovci's S. Crnobori increased the lead to 3 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 24 minutes. Marama's A. Matoš got himself booked for a foul. After 33 minutes, Retkovci's D. Bertalanić found the back of the goal with a beautiful free kick. 4 - 0. Halftime score was 4 - 0. Retkovci had most of the ball, with 83 percent of possession.

After 52 minutes, S. Crnobori put Retkovci ahead 5 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. Retkovci's M. Tanninen was shown a yellow card after 58 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After 69 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and S. Elli gave the Retkovci supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 6 - 0. The Retkovci free kick 72 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of A. Ollier, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 7 - 0! A. Matoš knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Marama player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. Retkovci put themselves up 8 - 0 when S. Elli broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. That made three goals for S. Elli and he was marked down for the hat trick. Possession in this half belonged to Retkovci, who controlled the ball 87 percent of the time.

Most important Retkovci player was S. Crnobori. On the other hand, Š. Kobr's play was disheartening. The most dominating Marama player was without a doubt M. Puljić. J. Šašo was a disappointment, however. The match ends 8 - 0.