Caballeros 1 - 7 Wizards (391291086)

Dark skies made the crowd of 2445 at Cruzados Caballeros Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Samuel Larsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Aldo Maria Labunda and Harm-Jan Eken. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Caballeros. Starters: Uribe - Macuer, Nogueira, Torres, Starke - Guardia, Cross, Munizaga, Huici - Fernández, Villagra.

Wizards had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Serôdio - Lagos, Leprévost, Hager, Hauser, Bibbò - Leijonbratt, Borucki, Gaete - Tapia, Marbjerg.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Wizards. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 10 minutes into the match, and A. Leijonbratt wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. L. Cross of Caballeros was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 37 minutes, Wizards did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, P. Lagos was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 2. R. Leprévost of Wizards received a yellow card after 38 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Wizards had most of the ball, with 52 percent of possession.

Wizards increased their lead after 74 minutes when F. Borucki broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 3, much to the home crowd's dismay. J. Marbjerg's lightning pace was too much for J. Nogueira who could only look on as the Wizards player blasted one home. 0 - 4. A. Leijonbratt received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 77 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 5. The Wizards fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. The players of Wizards now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. Caballeros's J. Nogueira had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 81 minutes having been played. V. Bravo was the replacement. Wizards increased the lead to 0 - 6 as J. Marbjerg scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. Given a free kick close to the byline, Wizards tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let F. Borucki slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 7, 86 minutes into the game. The referee showed Caballeros's S. Macuer the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The local team's free kick specialist S. Macuer, reduced the away team's lead to 1 - 7 with a humdinger of a shot after 88 minutes. Wizards claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

Caballeros's best player was R. Fernández. D. Uribe was a disappointment, however. P. Lagos performed admirably for Wizards. On the other hand, M. Hauser's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 7.