S.Ruffillo 1 - 3 Atletico (392598648)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 23270 at Infernal Arena today. András Dancs was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Samuel Ortiz Osborne and Marko Sukula. S.Ruffillo started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Bertani - Kucera, Kaisen, Malykhin - Elgersma, Campus, Forn Pertejo, Della Marta, Humbracht - Diaz Ailan, van Liempd.

Atletico had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Zafferri - Lebeda, Ferin, 啟漢 (Qihan) - Ceccaroni, Forgani, Puonti, Wesselink, Westhoven - Ducatez, Kandaurov.

S.Ruffillo tried to focus their attacks down the middle. Today, Atletico's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Atletico's K. Ferin left the field after 6 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was C. Gayola. It was obvious that Atletico had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. With 17 minutes gone, C. Forgani suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Atletico caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. S.Ruffillo's N. Elgersma was shown a yellow card after 23 minutes for slicing down an opponent. G. Ducatez was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Atletico's D. Callier had to come off the bench. The visitors grabbed the lead after B. Wesselink's free kick succeeded, resulting in a score of 0 - 1. With 36 minutes played, W. Humbracht of S.Ruffillo fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Always quick and a menace to his opponents, M. Westhoven was very close to getting through after 37 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. It was obvious that team S.Ruffillo had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. G. Kaisen made a superb strike after 42 minutes with a shot straight in front of the goal after a long ball through the middle, but one of the visitors' defenders got a foot in at the last second and warded it off for a corner. O. Kandaurov of Atletico took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 44 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the forty-five minutes.

The crowd groaned when G. Della Marta, having maneuvered his way down the right, fired the ball just wide and missed a great opportunity to reduce the deficit for S.Ruffillo. Atletico's counterattacks were lethal to the opposing defence, allowing L. Ceccaroni to score easily from the right flank for 0 - 3. By now, the players in Atletico felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. A spectacular volley from R. van Liempd almost resulted in a goal, but a good save from the keeper kept it out, and N. Elgersma could only knock the loose ball wide. B. Wesselink wanted to play on, but the Atletico coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 70 minutes into the game by A. Bek. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for S.Ruffillo, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. N. Elgersma's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 78 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to L. Diaz Ailan who knocked it in for S.Ruffillo. 1 - 3! M. Westhoven could have put his team up another goal 85 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. 88 minutes in, S.Ruffillo's L. Diaz Ailan received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Neither team was controlling the possession at this point in the match, with the stats showing a 50:50 split.

M. Forn Pertejo performed admirably for S.Ruffillo. V. Malykhin turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Atletico player was without a doubt O. Kandaurov. On the other hand, L. Ceccaroni's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 3.