Fantastic 0 - 5 Cool (390050736)

The crowd of 38428 turning up at Armani Stadium today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. František Tuma was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nelutã Puscasu and Oğuz Yurd. Fantastic decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Giurea - Rothe, Gábor, Perman - Trompetto, North, Molveno, Duffey, Banaszkiewicz - Blum, Silva.

Cool tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. They fielded: Abed-Sulaiman - Sørensen, Chorroco - Albu, Ångblad, Wright, Harris, Aspenborg - Jokimies, Szűcs, Gripengren.

After 30 minutes, R. Ångblad sent the corner kick right to S. Sørensen who headed it sharply past the keeper. 0 - 1! After 33 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave R. Ångblad a chance to increase the lead for Cool, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 2. After 35 minutes Cool's S. Gripengren had to be carried off on a stretcher in agony. E. Medeossi came in to replace him. H. Banaszkiewicz did everything he could to get one back for his Fantastic, but keeper S. Abed-Sulaiman denied him with a spectacular block. W. Molveno's lack of experience almost gave Cool a goal after 37 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. Cool increased their lead after 39 minutes when E. Jokimies broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 3, much to the home crowd's dismay. T. Trompetto, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. J. Silva was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 3. Possession in this half belonged to Cool, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

B. Szűcs came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over R. Giurea but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. E. Jokimies increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Cool lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Had it not been for one of the home defenders, B. Szűcs would have put Cool up another goal 74 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. D. Albu received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 80 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 5. The Cool fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. Cool claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.

Most important Fantastic player was V. Blum. M. North was a disappointment, however. Cool's top performer was clearly E. Jokimies. E. Medeossi turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 5.