Axelius 1 - 1 Caracas (392254872)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 17000 had shown up at Axelius Arena for the match. Manfred Wimmer was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Abel Raizábal and Martin Fredander. Axelius tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Starters: Macías - Agruchave, Neergard, Kaulbarsch - Luzes, Kogkas, Moerenhout, Gattini - Štěch, Nikoskelainen, Rico Reyes.

A 5-3-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Caracas. The following players took the field: Mendoza - Merchán, Azuaje, Suárez, Ojeda, Dutra - Gangman, Rask, Liebl - Schamp, Ramones.

It was an obvious ambition of Axelius to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Caracas used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. 5 minutes into the game, a swerving free kick by J. Luzes almost resulted in the home team taking the lead, but the shot glanced harmlessly off the frame of the goal. Caracas made it 0 - 1 as S. Merchán got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to K. Gangman who whipped a low drive in off the far post. No matter how hard he tried, J. Rico Reyes just couldn't get his shot past the visitors' right side defence after 26 minutes. E. Azuaje was, after 28 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper J. Macías made the save. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Axelius enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.

51 minutes in, and Axelius were able to score the equalising goal to make it 1 - 1 when B. Moerenhout picked up a pass coming in from the right and chipped it past the away team's keeper. 67 minutes into the game, Caracas wanted to bring some new energy to their game. P. Ojeda gave T. Morend a quick hug as he left the field. After 70 minutes, the Caracas coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving K. Gangman off the field. R. Pirela took his place. It was obvious that Axelius had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. 80 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Caracas substitution. E. Quevedo came on for A. Ramones. U. Liebl had a good try after 80 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. 86 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Axelius to take the lead after a good cross from the right found B. Štěch alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, S. Nikoskelainen got himself booked. The manager of Axelius was not happy. J. Macías looked great 89 minutes into the match after stopping a shot from the middle of the penalty area from the visitors' E. Azuaje. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Caracas, with 59 percent of the ball.

J. Macías performed admirably for Axelius. K. Kogkas was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Caracas player was without a doubt E. Azuaje. Á. Mendoza on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 1.