kicker 1 - 2 Weißbach (384610591)

The crowd of 9199 turning up at kicker stadion today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Lars Strandgren was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jalmar Olumets and Eldert Tetteroo. kicker tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Kubik - Vormbaum, Kalista, Höhnighausen - Jahn, Vanden Daele, Verspuy, Ettenauer, Pachinger - Anders, Lötten.

Weißbach started off with a 5-3-2 lineup. They fielded: van Lunteren - Vulić, Minerva, Puellas, 興文 (Xingwen), Olsen - Greig, Rosa, Mulazzani - Lunde, Stepanenko.

kicker clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. After 7 minutes, Weißbach's T. Lunde made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. J. Kalista didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. The head of R. Rosa connected with a corner kick after 33 minutes, and the ball ended up with M. Mulazzani of Weißbach who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 0 - 2. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for kicker, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by kicker, with 68 percent of the ball.

V. van Lunteren wanted to play on, but the Weißbach coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by M. Cieślukowski. The coach of Weißbach was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 46 minutes, S. Tornaghi came on for R. Rosa. O. Stepanenko became the new Weißbach captain. The Weißbach players could smell victory in the air. O. Stepanenko wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for M. Agabiti after 46 minutes. The Weißbach captaincy was handed to M. Agabiti. D. Puellas, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. kicker's J. Kalista had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 66 minutes having been played. B. Kriutz was the replacement. Weißbach's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 68 minutes gone, but T. Lunde's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. kicker players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. kicker were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. kicker's M. Anders cut towards the middle after 72 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 2. kicker claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 71 percent.

kicker's top performer was clearly E. Verspuy. However, B. Kriutz made a disastrous appearance. T. Lunde performed admirably for Weißbach. On the other hand, M. Cieślukowski's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 2.