esdoorn 2 - 3 Strikers (388544979)

21339 spectators arrived at SEA- Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Mauro Barbon was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Giuseppe Bonfiglio and Juan José Daga. esdoorn had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Da Concesio - Voutsinas, Volpato, Marconatto - Goersch, Hellemans, Gervasi, Fomenko, Busquet - Stuivenberg, Chiabrera.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Strikers. Lineup: Dahlsgaard - Drakmar, Mettes, Codina - Ribeiro, Avellí, Winder, Rubio Paz, Cerbaia - Colomer, Lintern.

esdoorn clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. R. Marconatto's lack of experience almost gave Strikers a goal after 8 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. 15 minutes in, esdoorn's K. Goersch received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Strikers, as A. Winder left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. G. Vanzeveren took his place on the field. S. Codina was handed the Strikers captain's armband. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 18 minutes allowed T. Drakmar to score for Strikers. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. The referee showed Strikers's F. Avellí the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. C. Busquet made a superb strike after 29 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors' defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. Strikers's S. Cerbaia was shown a yellow card after 30 minutes for slicing down an opponent. I. Hellemans of esdoorn had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. S. Galle came in to finish the match. Halftime score was 0 - 1. esdoorn claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for esdoorn, but F. Stuivenberg's shot went over the bar. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave C. Busquet from esdoorn a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 82 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The crowd roared in delight as V. Voutsinas finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for esdoorn 83 minutes into the match. 1 - 1. 1 - 2 was the score with 84 minutes played, after F. Ribeiro cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Strikers. esdoorn had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. After 85 minutes of play, N. Fomenko evened things up for esdoorn with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 2 - 2. The home crowd was not impressed by the fancy moves of Strikers's Á. Colomer after 86 minutes. He converted a pass from the left for a goal, resulting in the visitors taking the 2 - 3 lead. esdoorn's V. Voutsinas got himself booked for a foul. esdoorn had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

The most dominating esdoorn player was without a doubt F. Stuivenberg. However, S. Galle made a disastrous appearance. Á. Colomer performed admirably for Strikers. G. Vanzeveren was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 3.