Samsa 2 - 2 Fronchy (382888414)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 31964 at Rob Hecker Arena today. Sjors Drent was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jamie van den Hout and Julio Vera. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Madrid derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Samsa. The following players had been chosen: Isac - Graf von Hardenberg, Valbuena, Ugarte - Boshart, Deckenbach, Bohlig, Morelli, Schmidt - Parry, Pekün.

Fronchy had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Martin - Roldán Rendon, Bang Christiansen - Arkhireev, Caínzos, Orsós, Elies, Pedró - Osete, Wittek, Matkócsik.

Samsa saw most attack opportunities on the wings. After 19 minutes, K. Parry came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Samsa the lead. The visitors didn't give in and, after 32 minutes, R. Orsós got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. Samsa were awarded a penalty 41 minutes into the game but K. Parry produced a poor shot, quite easily saved by A. Martin. 1 - 1 was the halftime score. Samsa claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

Samsa broke through on the left 52 minutes into the game, with D. Ugarte firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 2 - 1 lead. With 54 minutes played, M. Matkócsik came in from the right and could have evened the score, but the defenders successfully repelled the attack by Fronchy. Fronchy's G. Osete had seen it all before, so he waited patiently for the right opportunity. He would get no better chance than the one he took, but his shot was deftly blocked by the keeper. A free kick just outside of the visitors' penalty area after 73 minutes could have resulted in another goal, but A. Martin got a hand out and tipped the ball over the bar. After 75 minutes of play, the free-spirited G. Pedró decided to go for goal as he struck the ball from the corner of the pitch. The ball hit a defender in the face and bounced out of play. After 83 minutes, the visitors levelled the scores after L. Wittek made it through the middle and struck home to make it 2 - 2. Many thought H. Bohlig ought to have been awarded a penalty 87 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around A. Martin after a determined run through the middle. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Samsa, with 54 percent of the ball.

Most important Samsa player was G. Pekün. G. Graf von Hardenberg was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Fronchy player was without a doubt L. Wittek. G. Pedró on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 2.