ESPONJA 2 - 0 Korando (382916992)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 33753 had shown up at FONDO BIKINI for the match. Foppe Meijland was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Joël Smet and Klaus Porse. ESPONJA had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. They fielded: Cortejo - Capocasa, Cavaciocchi, Jēgers, Lehti, Speelman - Xicota, Shepelev, Furné, Zobel - Šindler.

Korando started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Lineup: Sánchez - Ganino, Van Wijnendaele, Cromer, Zaccaría - Simonsen, Swinnen, Ruttkay, Ferreira Machado - Mohnert, Cerrón.

After 11 minutes Korando tried to exploit their counterattacking skills, unfortunately, M. Ganino's shot sailed wide after his break down the right. 23 minutes into the game, Korando had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to weak. After 24 minutes, following yet another great corner, Y. Cromer's flick on at the near post reached N. Ruttkay, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. ESPONJA fans held their breath as P. Furné scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 1 - 0! After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, C. Van Wijnendaele got himself booked. The manager of Korando was not happy. I. Šindler could have put ESPONJA up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 38 minutes. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. ESPONJA claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 69 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that Korando had solid organisation. ESPONJA's I. Šindler swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. A. Shepelev struck a 30 metre free kick home 52 minutes into the match. 2 - 0 for the home team. 63 minutes in, Korando appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by ESPONJA, with 67 percent of the ball.

ESPONJA's top performer was clearly P. Furné. E. Jēgers on the other hand, had a terrible day. Korando's best player was E. Cerrón. However, C. Ferreira Machado made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 0.