ATAKENT 3 - 5 61 (388892541)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 35842 that came out to ***ATAKENT***. Iacob Costache was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Giorgio Lorentz and Mariusz Kudłacik. ATAKENT had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Kamel - Troiani, Dittus, de Sousa - Žižak, Reisinger, Năstase, Nironen, Gökbulut - Pascu, Evin.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for 61. The following players had been chosen: Kıraydın - Berko, den Rooijen, Arkoç - Jandel, Adelman, Sandér, Szekrényes, Coviello - Ben-Shimon, Weckes.

61 seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. With 17 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, V. Troiani needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. It was obvious that team 61 had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 27 minutes allowed B. Weckes to score for 61. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. 61 had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. After 29 minutes, 61's A. Coviello burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. After this, you could see that the players of 61 were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why A. Nironen found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. ATAKENT's fans were urging them forward as they tried to get back into the game, and their vocal support was rewarded 33 minutes into the match as V. Pascu ran onto a beautiful ball played through the visitors' defence and slotted it past the keeper to reduce the deficit. 1 - 2. 61 were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. The visitors' B. Szekrényes took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 35 minutes into the match. 1 - 3 for 61. After the ball was lifted in from the left, S. Adelman was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 39 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. 61 players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. B. Weckes received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 42 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 1 - 4. The 61 fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. E. Buker was called on to replace 61's O. Ben-Shimon after 43 minutes following a nasty collision. 1 - 4 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to 61, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

The intense heat forced A. Năstase into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. The home crowd cheered when, after 67 minutes, S. Adelman's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. ATAKENT showed their counterattack skill 68 minutes into the match by breaking through the middle, with B. Žižak scoring uncontested for 2 - 4. ATAKENT refused to be intimidated and, breaking through the middle, A. Evin managed to slip the ball home for 3 - 4. After 75 minutes, 61 sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached S. Adelman, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 3 - 5. 61 enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

The most dominating ATAKENT player was without a doubt A. Evin. V. Troiani turned in a dismal performance, however. 61's top performer was clearly B. Weckes. Y. Berko on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 5.