Asclepius 2 - 0 Pirates (387050250)

The 56932 spectators at Millenium Arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Tomás Enrique Grosso was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Daniel Soares and Mattias Davidsson. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Asclepius. The following players had been chosen: Siancas - Badin, Øien, Mor-Yossef, van Gerwen - Højfeldt, Carles, Lundt, Kim - Pasveer, Vaerten.

Pirates started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Starters: Viñambres - Lee, Park, Hong, Baldinazzo - Heringsmühle, Cresta, Cousiño, Ford - Keski-Säntti, Tretjak.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Pirates. Against a lesser team, Asclepius could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 6 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. With 7 minutes gone, a long pass from the defence of Pirates resulted in a counterattack that set H. Lee free through the middle, but the keeper made a spectacular diving save. Pirates nearly produced a goal as S. Keski-Säntti set up E. Ford for a strike from a seemingly impossible angle. However he put the shot narrowly wide. Some great play up the middle by Asclepius led to a chance for C. Badin to score after 16 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. J. Kim's speed was almost enough to give Asclepius a goal after 32 minutes, but his nice pass to K. Pasveer was not taken care of properly. V. Tretjak had a good try after 37 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Asclepius claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

A free kick aimed at the keeper's far post almost gave Pirates the lead 49 minutes in, but the ball just wasn't able to squirm its way through the defensive wall. After a fine move down the middle K. Pasveer nearly gave the home side a goal after 54 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. The referee signaled a penalty for the home side after 63 minutes, amid vocal protests from the visitors. Asclepius fans erupted in celebration as P. Øien rifled the ball into the the top corner. 1 - 0! Always quick and a menace to his opponents, J. Kim was very close to getting through after 72 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. Asclepius managed to extend their lead to 2 - 0 when E. Vaerten cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Asclepius, with 54 percent of the ball.

Asclepius's best player was E. Vaerten. On the other hand, P. Øien's play was disheartening. The most dominating Pirates player was without a doubt V. Tretjak. E. Viñambres turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.