Samurais 0 - 1 Palhas (386253931)

43309 spectators arrived at Shogun's Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Nils-Åke Berntsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Noah Runyan and Joppe Vandenbroucke. Samurais had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Starters: Aparicio Pérez - Javanainen, Sykes, Hagman - Lindholm, Fröhbrodt, Ash, Braver - Tambornino, Chamorra, Spínola.

Palhas tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players took the field: Sakki - Gonçalves, Botelho Silva, Garon, Mata - Soares, Nabais, Laur, de Lima, Kuthan - Guciak.

The wings were the focus of most of Palhas's attacks today. The referee showed Samurais's V. Javanainen the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. R. Botelho Silva's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for Palhas, he bravely continued in the match. It might be a while before the fans see Palhas's R. Botelho Silva again, after he had to leave the field in great distress at the 27 minute mark. He was replaced by C. Valadas. Samurais had a good opportunity to take the lead as F. Chamorra came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of V. Sakki. It was 0 - 0 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Samurais, with 59 percent of the ball.

L. Lindholm was very close to giving Samurais the lead with an ingenious free kick routine 67 minutes into the match, but the ball just grazed the bar. A scuffle developed as players from both sides clashed following a tussle in the centre of the field 77 minutes into the match. After regaining order and consulting his linesman, the referee called Samurais's J. Braver to one side and produced a red card for the player. J. Guciak was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Palhas's C. Valadas managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 0 - 1 H. Spínola of Samurais received a yellow card after 80 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. J. Ash dispatched a majestic long shot 83 minutes into the match, but missed the goal by a few metres. Samurais claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

The most dominating Samurais player was without a doubt F. Tambornino. However, R. Aparicio Pérez made a disastrous appearance. Most important Palhas player was J. Guciak. C. Valadas turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 1.