vvva 1 - 7 Zijderupsen (392676709)

The 28694 spectators at VVVA Gelderdome were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Augustin Bouret was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Piet Bartek and Janosch Findeisen. vvva started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Alofs - Rojo, De Borger, Masferré - Števanja, Wentholt, Soupidis, Schweitzer, Bourgade - Behrens, Bourguignon.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Zijderupsen. They fielded: Balázs - Jerjissi, Bessembinders, Ribeiro Fonseca, Nkadimeq - Iivonen, Dimmling, Escavias, Kapetanopoulos - Mendia, Lange.

Going for long shots seemed to be the strategy in use by vvva. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 3 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from B. Števanja, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave E. Lange from Zijderupsen a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 16 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Zijderupsen's A. Kapetanopoulos was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - H. Mendia managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 1 - 1 after 18 minutes. After a fine move down the middle I. Wentholt nearly gave the home side a goal after 23 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. After the game, the most discussed event will probably be the penalty given after 25 minutes that gave the visitors the 1 - 2 lead. Despite the controversy, J. Escavias struck home the penalty, as cool as anything. After 30 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for E. Lange who increased Zijderupsen's lead to 1 - 3. 31 minutes in, Zijderupsen's L. Nkadimeq received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. It was 1 - 3 at the break. Zijderupsen claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

The bench was restless, and with 60 minutes passed vvva's coach gave M. Guadalix the opportunity the player had been hoping for. E. Soupidis reluctantly left the field. F. Bourgade didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. J. Iivonen of Zijderupsen took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 68 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 4. By now, the players in Zijderupsen felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. A drive down the left side allowed J. Escavias to get in close and score another goal for Zijderupsen after 70 minutes, taking the score to 1 - 5. Zijderupsen's H. Mendia proved that he's been around on a football pitch before, when he took advantage of a few moments of confusion in the opposition's defensive line and elegantly scored for 1 - 6. With 80 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed A. Kapetanopoulos of Zijderupsen to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 7. vvva's slick passing moves completely confused the defence after 81 minutes, but thanks to L. Balázs's miraculous save from F. Bourgade's long shot the score remained unchanged. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Zijderupsen, with 59 percent of the ball.

The most dominating vvva player was without a doubt G. Bourguignon. A. Masferré turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Zijderupsen player was E. Lange. On the other hand, J. Bessembinders's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 7.