Concordia 4 - 1 Blau (384298090)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 39051 at Waldstadion today. Stanisław Sławek was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gaspar Corbelle and Matt Talbot. Concordia tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. The following players took the field: Raso - Mulot, Wiesinger, Skovenborg, Jadrijev - Montalvo, Off, Hochmeister - Pino Campos, Bajger, Gonzaga.

Blau had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. They fielded: Krauth - Piomenos, Gaßner, Reinwald, Mulo - Utriainen, Harscher, Charlot, Bennetzen, Lakomý - Dias.

Concordia clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. After 11 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to Blau's W. Krauth being carried off the pitch and replaced by B. Korzym. With 13 minutes played, G. Reinwald of Blau fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Blau's Y. Piomenos left the field after 16 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was J. Fabritius. The Blau captaincy was handed to F. Lakomý. A penalty was given after 18 minutes, allowing the visitors to gain the lead: 0 - 1. K. Charlot was the scorer. G. Reinwald of Blau got sent off for kicking the ball after the whistle, a completely uncalled for move, earning him his second yellow card of the game. Concordia made it 1 - 1 as M. Mulot got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to Z. Bajger who whipped a low drive in off the far post. They were singing the praises of Z. Bajger 33 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 2 - 1 to Concordia. With 39 minutes played, Concordia put themselves up 3 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to Z. Bajger, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. This third goal completed a hattrick for Z. Bajger. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Concordia lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. 3 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Blau, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

Concordia were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty 47 minutes into the match, which was neatly put away by M. Montalvo. 4 - 1 for the home side. M. Montalvo wanted to play on, but the Concordia coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 80 minutes into the game by A. Behaim. With 82 minutes gone, J. Hochmeister suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Concordia caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. Concordia almost scored after a swift counterattack 86 minutes into the game, but J. Hochmeister put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. Blau enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 55 percent of possession.

H. Gonzaga performed admirably for Concordia. On the other hand, R. Raso's play was disheartening. The most dominating Blau player was without a doubt A. Dias. B. Korzym was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 1.