Castello 1 - 2 PRIMA (388201465)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 27847 at Stadio dei Baci today. Tim De Soete was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Per Halskov and Andrievs Stebļins. Castello tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Persson - Edvinsson, Norskog, Aycihan - Ekby, Perazzino, Galliani, Quattrociocchi, Uddgren - Bokgren, Christiansson.

PRIMA decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Svanander - Bartumeu, Jolanki, Canavesi - Christiansson, Bottini, Lyhskär, Dinică - Normannen, Dieli, Heselmans.

Castello seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. PRIMA used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Some great play up the middle by Castello led to a chance for A. Galliani to score after 10 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. H. Lyhskär of PRIMA was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Castello's U. Norskog had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 39 minutes having been played. N. Hörgård was the replacement. Castello players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. Many thought S. Quattrociocchi ought to have been awarded a penalty 43 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around J. Svanander after a determined run through the middle. S. Quattrociocchi received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 43 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. S. Quattrociocchi caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 43 minutes. This gave Castello the 1 - 0 lead. The crowd gasped as W. Normannen of PRIMA was flattened by an opponent after 44 minutes and had to be carried off. C. Ondina came in off the bench. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Castello, with 63 percent of the ball.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, PRIMA's J. Svanander was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. G. Weingärtner was given a chance to change things around. Castello's T. Ekby had an excellent opportunity after 57 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! PRIMA needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 65 minutes M. Jolanki made way for C. Wille. After 79 minutes, PRIMA raised their score by one when O. Dinică's dangerous low cross was cleverly tucked in at the near post by D. Dieli. 1 - 1. The visiting G. Bottini was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 80 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. Castello enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

J. Christiansson performed admirably for Castello. S. Persson was a disappointment, however. PRIMA's top performer was clearly D. Dieli. However, G. Weingärtner made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 2.