Mérida 3 - 2 Nueva (383089526)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 18200 to Estadio Romano. Karel Krasnik was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Giachen Baer and Olli Pitkäaho. Mérida decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Arcese - de Vocht, Kajmaković, Vaišaitis - Sosa, Lokka, Erak, Kinskofer, Renko - Fagernes, Petracca.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Nueva. They fielded: Spaccamela - Bonnaud, Kaplár, Lázaro - Gansmeier, Kasalović, Grunewald, Coopman, Camces Grandes - Eaton, Roth.

Today, Nueva's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. H. Camces Grandes came close to putting the visiting team one up 4 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but R. Arcese managed to tip the ball to a corner. After 14 minutes Nueva's K. Gansmeier contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. Mérida's R. Arcese refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 28 minutes. Nueva's goal to make the score 0 - 1 came via a questionable penalty, but S. Eaton struck it home without a second thought. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave K. Fagernes from Mérida a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 37 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Nueva had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

Mérida's D. de Vocht put his head to a well placed ball, lifted in from the left, and scored to make the score 1 - 1 with 48 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock. D. Kasalović neatly controlled the ball after a short corner, and knocked it on to F. Grunewald who had the whole net open before him, but only managed to hit the post. 60 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Mérida substitution. M. Melchor Gil came on for K. Fagernes. Down the middle came B. Roth, making a fantastic play that nearly had Nueva take the lead after 63 minutes, but R. Arcese preserved the tie. O. Erak would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. D. Hunglinger entered the game for Mérida as the match clock showed 68 minutes. Mérida were very close to putting themselves one up after 68 minutes as M. Melchor Gil got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Given a free kick close to the byline, Mérida tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let D. Hunglinger slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 2 - 1, 74 minutes into the game. D. Kasalović finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 2 - 2 75 minutes into the match. Mérida's D. Hunglinger lived up to his reputation for finding unexpected ways to get the ball in the net when he sent a nifty little pass over to M. Melchor Gil who finished for 3 - 2 with 76 minutes of the match played. R. Arcese's name was chanted throughout the stadium after he made a fantastic save from S. Eaton's shot from the left 78 minutes into the match. Nueva claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Most important Mérida player was D. Hunglinger. R. Arcese on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Nueva player was without a doubt D. Kasalović. On the other hand, A. Kaplár's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 2.