CastleKing 0 - 6 United (392515263)

Clear skies welcomed the 12000 spectators who had made their way to CastleKing Arena. Geert-Marthé Alderlieste was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tomas Hilger and Lajos Csont. CastleKing tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Juárez - Castle, Henderson, Hayward, Bressan - Jacobsen, Thomas, Argazzù, Harms - Cícero, Linder.

A 2-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for United. Starters: Quatrilho - Calaiò, Dumitrascu - Prezerakos, Houfflin, Galmiche, Werłos, Toifl - Abente, Wallis.

United took the lead 10 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. N. Wallis was the scorer. N. Prezerakos's lightning pace was too much for M. Bressan who could only look on as the United player blasted one home. 0 - 2. The visitors' F. Abente took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 34 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for United. The players of United now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 40 minutes into the game, United had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. N. Wallis came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over C. Juárez but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. With 43 minutes played, C. Hayward of CastleKing fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Some fine movement on the left led to a United goal after 44 minutes, making it 0 - 4. F. Abente was noted down as the scorer. The home crowd was not impressed when F. Toifl came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 44 minutes. United were now up 0 - 5. 0 - 5 was the halftime score. United claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 85 percent.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that United had solid organisation. United's F. Abente made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 54 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender slid in and cleared the ball off the line. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, G. Argazzù got himself booked. The manager of CastleKing was not happy. 76 minutes in, United appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only weak. 82 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 6 as M. Galmiche finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. With the scoreboard showing that 83 minutes had been played, United nearly put themselves up another goal after N. Wallis came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. United had most of the ball, with 85 percent of possession.

E. Cícero performed admirably for CastleKing. However, G. Henderson made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating United player was without a doubt F. Abente. On the other hand, D. Dumitrascu's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 6.