Kainitas 3 - 0 santa (391887349)

Dark skies made the crowd of 48660 at Torre de Babel a little nervous, but the rain held off. Marco Ybarra Maza was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Magnus Solberg and Tim Lager. Kainitas had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players took the field: Dunford - Kösker, Ekenander, Nicolescu, Krause - Pöntynen, Zilocchi, Capellino, Campigotto, Riumalló - Cebola.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for santa. Starters: Serafini - Pozzetto, Sironi, Jahnel-Fodor - Antolini, Hinrichs, Ribas Blanco, Berson, Larsson - Sibeko, Coto.

The wings were the focus of most of Kainitas's attacks today. Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for santa. santa's A. Coto got himself booked for a foul. With 24 minutes played, Kainitas's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to C. Zilocchi he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 0. It was obvious that Kainitas had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. Kainitas managed to extend their lead to 2 - 0 when Q. Riumalló cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. After 28 minutes, S. Nicolescu put Kainitas ahead 3 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. By now, the players in Kainitas felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, M. Antolini got himself booked. The manager of santa was not happy. It was 3 - 0 at the break. Kainitas had most of the ball, with 62 percent of possession.

The referee showed Kainitas's L. Capellino the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. L. Cebola unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. The Kainitas players could smell victory in the air. L. Campigotto wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for M. Eckby after 79 minutes. A counterattack by santa after 81 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but H. Larsson, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. Kainitas claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

Kainitas's best player was L. Capellino. M. Eckby on the other hand, had a terrible day. santa's top performer was clearly A. Coto. However, N. Sibeko made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 0.