60 3 - 1 ESM (384918756)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 27806 at Löwen Arena today. Tommy Crook was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Daniel Woiński and Nathan Zunkel. 60 decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Malantrucco - Martignetti, Biderman, Mehinagić - Dvarvitis, Balañà, Planka, Magro, Austin - Berezin, Karoui.

ESM tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Starters: Raassina - Taurian, Juvany, Cardinal, Gerst - Ziello, Menichetti, Di Natale, Takkunen, Karrer - Coutellier.

The wings were the focus of most of 60's attacks today. With 9 minutes played M. Planka almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but the visitors' V. Raassina was onto it, grabbing the would be breakthrough ball. 60's I. Austin was shown a yellow card after 12 minutes for slicing down an opponent. At 13 minutes played, O. Dvarvitis came in from the right with the intention of giving 60 the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. V. Menichetti knocked one home from a counterattack down the right wing, making the score 0 - 1 after 14 minutes. The crowd was on its feet 21 minutes into the match, as 60's K. Berezin found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. M. Karrer had a good try after 26 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to M. Planka, but the 60 player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! It was 2 - 1 at the break. 60 enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

C. Biderman increased the lead for 60 to 3 - 1, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! After this, you could see that the players of 60 were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. 60 had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. 60 put in a good effort on the right, but C. Biderman saw his volley fly wide of the mark 60 minutes into the game. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by 60, with 62 percent of the ball.

60's top performer was clearly Ò. Balañà. However, O. Dvarvitis made a disastrous appearance. E. Juvany performed admirably for ESM. O. Cardinal on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 1.