Mercenaries 2 - 3 Bavarians (392326641)

30393 spectators had come to Marburg Mercenaries Arena this cloudy day. Virgil Turcu was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Boe Siggaard and Per Astrup. Mercenaries decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Mora - Granberg, Winker, Rieper - Farrugia, Keßler, Deckers, Gehren, Jordens - Arponen, Ionitã.

Bavarians tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Starters: Ovesen - Şahin, Scheifinger - Stuhlmann, Dersdorf, Çakırbey, Schandl, Fitzner - Gravell, Dobrosotskiy, Prezas.

The referee signaled a penalty for the home side after 10 minutes, amid vocal protests from the visitors. Mercenaries fans erupted in celebration as O. Ionitã rifled the ball into the the top corner. 1 - 0! O. Dersdorf made a run for the goal 18 minutes into the game but the home team's left back managed to sort the situation out in the end. Mercenaries will have to do without U. Winker for a time, due to a bad foot injury at the 23 minute mark. He was substituted by B. Boersma. The visitors were awarded a penalty by the referee 24 minutes into the match, much to the anger of the home crowd. J. Scheifinger took advantage of the situation and scored to make it 1 - 1. With 31 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. T. Stuhlmann put the ball away for 1 - 2. Halftime score was 1 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Bavarians, with 59 percent of the ball.

The home crowd cheered when, after 51 minutes, T. Gravell's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. B. Boersma charged down the left and had a wonderful opportunity to score the equaliser for Mercenaries, but the shot went well wide of the goal. With 58 minutes played, J. Schandl nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. 60 minutes into the match, Ö. Çakırbey came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. 61 minutes into the match, a typically brave header by N. Jordens from A. Farrugia's cross looped just over the opposing goalkeeper's desperate reach. Goal for Mercenaries, making the score 2 - 2. Some great play up the middle by Mercenaries led to a chance for O. Ionitã to score after 70 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. Bavarians had most of the ball, with 58 percent of possession.

After the regular 90 minutes, the agony of extra time followed. Making his way up the middle 105 minutes into the match, T. Arponen almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert O. Ovesen blocked it to keep the score level. Bavarians had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 106 minutes in when G. Dobrosotskiy came up alone against A. Mora who managed a block. N. Jordens of Mercenaries was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. The visiting J. Schandl was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 110 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 2 - 3 was the score. Extra time over, Bavarians were the victors! Mercenaries's best player was H. Gehren. B. Rieper on the other hand, had a terrible day. Bavarians's top performer was clearly O. Dersdorf. However, J. Scheifinger made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 3.