Giardiniere!!! 1 - 4 Torcida (384875270)

37387 spectators had found their way to P A R T E N I O, despite the heavy rain. Pablo Portela was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jean-Luc Dupuis and Rémi 'Le roux' Ragot. Giardiniere!!! tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Krøldrup - Meier, Pamer, Hayes-Vesely, Linder - Jerónimo, D'Angelo, Nevers, Emmeloord - Bestvater, Wendel.

Torcida decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. They fielded: Özoktay - Bühler, Nutt, Goop, Trenčanský, Nigg - Miller, Voicu, Albright, Crivits - Curasì.

Torcida clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. The visiting A. Bühler was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 17 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. Torcida's I. Curasì finished emphatically to make the score 0 -2 after 23 minutes, after the enigmatic A. Trenčanský pulled a delightful long pass from his box of tricks to bypass the defence. Torcida almost scored after a counterattack 35 minutes into the match, but A. Bühler took a shot from the left that landed harmlessly in the side of the net. It was a bad day for the usually speedy I. Curasì. The mud seemed to slow him down. Torcida's T. Goop got himself booked for a foul. The referee signalled a penalty 42 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. R. Albright knocked it home to make the score 0 - 3. R. Jerónimo of Giardiniere!!! was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when R. Bestvater scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 1 - 3. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit M. Nigg just fine. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 44 minutes, Torcida did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, J. Crivits was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 1 - 4. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 4. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Giardiniere!!!, with 52 percent of the ball.

49 minutes in, Giardiniere!!!'s F. D'Angelo received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The crowd gasped as C. Linder of Giardiniere!!! was flattened by an opponent after 68 minutes and had to be carried off. B. Kuray came in off the bench. After 70 minutes, the defensive line of Torcida created a counterattack through the middle that gave C. Miller a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Giardiniere!!! claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

Giardiniere!!!'s top performer was clearly V. Meier. S. Wendel turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Torcida player was without a doubt M. Nigg. On the other hand, E. Özoktay's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 4.