liechstenstein 2 - 5 Winston (383235374)

The 13904 spectators at vaduz arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Rolf Läfvenström was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Joachim Kowaliszyn and Jan-Frederik Meye. liechstenstein decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Salvador - Hristov, Morente, Albarellos - Eguzkitzabenta, Miranda, Casarini, Kapucu, Ramos Platón - Barrenechea, Kirchweger.

Winston tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Paroli - Kern, De Groote, Pascu - Bağlan, Popescu, Fransson, Lahousse, Rodrigues - Lanus García, Trincone.

The wings were the focus of most of liechstenstein's attacks today. It was an obvious ambition of Winston to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. After 8 minutes, Winston put themselves up 0 - 1, as R. Lanus García finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. F. Kirchweger's technique was perfect on this sunny day and led to some breathtaking tricks that bamboozled the defence. Winston had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. T. Kern increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. Winston's D. De Groote was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 28 minutes. At 29 minutes into the game, liechstenstein's A. Eguzkitzabenta deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 1 - 2. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from R. Lanus García after 30 minutes, and prevented Winston from going up another goal. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 31 minutes into the match, an alert E. Ramos Platón bagged the ball for liechstenstein, levelling the score to 2 - 2. Winston were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 41 minutes into the match, and S. Bağlan wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 2 - 3 for the visitors. It was 2 - 3 at the break. Winston claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

With 54 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed S. Bağlan of Winston to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 2 - 4. L. Pascu could have added one to the visitors' lead if his free kick had gone just a little lower. Players in Winston heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. 72 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 2 - 5 as M. Trincone finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The referee showed liechstenstein's M. Barrenechea the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 75 minutes of game time, T. Kern had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but A. Salvador was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. With 76 minutes played, T. Kern of Winston fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. S. Bağlan left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 80 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. T. Ebersdorfer was the replacement. L. Pascu became the new Winston captain. The coach of Winston was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 82 minutes, A. Adamczuk came on for D. De Groote. Winston enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

Most important liechstenstein player was F. Kirchweger. P. Albarellos was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Winston player was without a doubt J. Lahousse. A. Adamczuk turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 5.