dora 1 - 3 Schalke07 (392669976)

It had rained all day, but 36942 hardy fans still made it out to Nye Stadion. Igor Poort was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Anders Vikner and Teemu Schroderus. dora decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players took the field: Schallenberg - Gabbani, Sandvik, Apostolo - Vandžala, Nereng, Andersen, Haugum, Yáñez-Fajardo - Lund, Zebrev.

Schalke07 tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. They fielded: Fleury - Serrano, Istrătescu, bin Hj Hafiz - Viets, Ericsson, Kuranyi, Camminga, Bono - Hansen, Mansikkahalme.

dora used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. R. Lund was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Schalke07 took the lead after 8 minutes making the score 0 - 1. S. Hansen placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. P. Mansikkahalme did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. dora were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. dora put pressure on the visitors' central defence 31 minutes into the game, but D. Haugum couldn't find an opening. J. Bono 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 R. Schallenberg but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. Good work by the dora defensive line after 36 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found T. Andersen alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit I. Camminga just fine. V. Kuranyi of Schalke07 took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 41 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to dora, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

A drive down the left side allowed P. Mansikkahalme to get in close and score another goal for Schalke07 after 70 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 3. U. Gabbani was able to knock home a free kick after 76 minutes to make the score 1 - 3. A superb free kick by dora's U. Gabbani after 78 minutes looked like it'd reduced the lead after it hit the underside of the bar and bounced down over the line, but to the fury of the home crowd the linesman missed it - no goal! dora's D. Haugum got himself booked for a foul. dora enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

Most important dora player was D. Haugum. R. Lund turned in a dismal performance, however. S. Hansen performed admirably for Schalke07. V. Kuranyi on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3.