Cainitas 3 - 3 Katamotz (382979226)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and Cainitas F.C Arena saw a crowd turnout of 35500. Marko Bodenschatz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Sebastian Sossenheim and Pancrazio Bonivento. Cainitas tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Stahl - Daly, van der Duin, Dumont - Antonarelli, Tobler, Malamata, Ghiorghiof, Czesak - Riepponen, Abril.

A 5-2-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Katamotz. They fielded: Abogabir - Kuzmanov, Manta, Urtiaga, Riu, Pinedo - Cynar, Simon - Robinson, Biguri, Carinelli.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Katamotz. 21 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for Cainitas was J. Daly. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Cainitas scored another to make it 2 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for P. Riepponen after 30 minutes. J. Abril of Cainitas received a yellow card after 35 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. P. Riepponen unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. 39 minutes into the game, J. Simon finished off a Katamotz left wing counterattack, making the score 2 - 1. Cainitas's M. Malamata got himself booked for a foul. A great save by keeper M. Abogabir after 41 minutes kept the visitors in the game after M. Malamata struck from the left with a real cannonball. Halftime score was 2 - 1. Cainitas enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 78 percent of possession.

J. Abril could have increased the lead after 55 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. A counterattack by Katamotz after 56 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but C. Carinelli, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. N. Biguri was first to reach a ball launched long through the center from Katamotz's defence 62 minutes into the game. He managed to keep his cool and beat the goalkeeper to make the score 2 - 2. Making his way up the middle 63 minutes into the match, P. Czesak almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert M. Abogabir blocked it to keep the score level. Katamotz were great at switching from defence to attack, and after 64 minutes, D. Robinson swept through the middle on a counterattack, making the score 2 - 3. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Cainitas, but J. Dumont's shot went over the bar. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Cainitas's G. Ghiorghiof came in from the right after 70 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 3 - 3. M. Abogabir would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. L. Kutaj entered the game for Katamotz as the match clock showed 80 minutes. L. Kutaj was handed the Katamotz captain's armband. Possession in this half belonged to Cainitas, who controlled the ball 80 percent of the time.

Cainitas's best player was P. Riepponen. V. Antonarelli was a disappointment, however. Katamotz's top performer was clearly C. Carinelli. However, R. Pinedo made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 3.