C.R.Saprissa 2 - 3 Internazionale (391460905)

Clear skies welcomed the 26825 spectators who had made their way to Ricardo Saprissa. Randy Nussberger was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Miquel Olivé and Fabrizio Ricciardi. C.R.Saprissa decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. The following players had been chosen: López Pilares - Blanco, Lemaître, Castro, Hutchin, Obando - Carranza, Zuntners, Adams, Sarusi - Lever.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Internazionale. The following players took the field: Alouen - Santos, Branco, Bermúdez, Rahm - Greco, Frittoli, Duarte, Wolffers, Pye - Bouchet.

Today, C.R.Saprissa's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. C.R.Saprissa were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. At 6 minutes played, K. Zuntners came in from the right with the intention of giving C.R.Saprissa the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. 14 minutes into the game, C.R.Saprissa had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to inadequate. With 32 minutes played E. Castro almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. The head of Y. Wolffers connected with a corner kick after 33 minutes, and the ball ended up with R. Rahm of Internazionale who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 0 - 1. J. Carranza showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 34 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 1 - 1 equaliser away. Halftime score was 1 - 1. C.R.Saprissa enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

A review of the gameplan helped C.R.Saprissa get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. 64 minutes in, C.R.Saprissa appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only passable. With the match clock at 75 minutes, Internazionale modified their style of play a little bit. The coach of Internazionale wanted to try to change things around after 75 minutes, and gave new tactical instructions. E. Santos would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. R. Santamaría entered the game for Internazionale as the match clock showed 75 minutes. 75 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a C.R.Saprissa substitution. G. Pizarro came on for E. Castro. As the clock reached 78 minutes, C.R.Saprissa decided to regroup. J. Carranza gave R. Sarusi a little pat on the back as they changed positions on the pitch. A penalty was given after 86 minutes, allowing the visitors to gain the lead: 1 - 2. G. Frittoli was the scorer. After 87 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as C.R.Saprissa found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. After 88 minutes, Internazionale's R. Rahm burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 1 - 3. With 89 minutes played, G. Pizarro was very close to reducing the score for C.R.Saprissa with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. The local team's free kick specialist K. Zuntners, reduced the away team's lead to 2 - 3 with a humdinger of a shot after 89 minutes. 89 minutes into the game, C.R.Saprissa seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. C.R.Saprissa claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

C.R.Saprissa's best player was M. Lever. On the other hand, G. Pizarro's play was disheartening. Internazionale's top performer was clearly G. Frittoli. O. Duarte turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 3.