Hermun 3 - 0 fanit2 (385577375)

It had rained all day, but 19491 hardy fans still made it out to Stadio Hermuppe Mekka. Pekka Sunesson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jip Pander and Per Bredal Nielsen. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hermun. Lineup: Stefanov - Merico, da Rocha, Slezin - Deppe, Salomoni, Freixa, Jääskeläinen, Pajulammi - Fieber, Mäkinen.

fanit2 decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players took the field: Agha Ebrahimian - Dejean, Dreier, Kannisto - Mulders, Kawulok, Pokka, 望嵩 (Wangsong) - de la Calle, Gavranović, Snell.

G. Merico was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! Hermun took the lead 31 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as N. Slezin elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. It was a bad day for the usually speedy J. Deppe. The mud seemed to slow him down. D. Salomoni could have increased the lead after 42 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. 1 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Hermun, who controlled the ball 67 percent of the time.

The score became 2 - 0 at 72 minutes into the game, when Hermun were given a penalty which T. Mäkinen blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! Hermun's D. Salomoni was shown a yellow card after 76 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A loud groan was heard from the fans of fanit2, as L. Snell left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. J. Kohonen took his place on the field. T. Mäkinen should probably have put his team up another goal after 78 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by D. Agha Ebrahimian kept the visitors in the game. The Hermun free kick 87 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of G. Fieber, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 0! By now, the players in Hermun felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave L. Kawulok from fanit2 a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 88 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Hermun claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 64 percent.

Most important Hermun player was D. Salomoni. However, A. da Rocha made a disastrous appearance. fanit2's best player was L. Kawulok. J. Kohonen turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 0.