villa 2 - 3 DEIDARA (392713353)

43512 spectators had come to villa maria Arena this cloudy day. Simone Cardinale was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alessio Negrini and Guido Lerzundi. villa tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. They fielded: Montes - Claesson, Belluzzi, Zuffenhausen - Purtanen, Wesseling, Öztin, Merkle - Montañez, Vanbastenko, Evangelista.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for DEIDARA. Starters: Oliver - Yanagawa, Caserta, Serwinowski, Vázquez - Zandbergen, Bellamy, Košuta, Zjeżdżałka, Cox - Hansen.

villa mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. villa took the lead 26 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as J. Evangelista elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, L. Vázquez got himself booked. The manager of DEIDARA was not happy. DEIDARA's opponents know to be wary of S. Cox's speed, but it made little difference as he flew past the defence 33 minutes into the game. Only the keeper could stop him - and he did with a perfectly timed dive! 38 minutes into the match the visitors levelled the score at 1 - 1 as S. Cox struck home from a rebound off the crossbar, following a shot from the right. villa took the lead after 39 minutes as a result of B. Öztin's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. With 40 minutes played, S. Hansen of DEIDARA fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to DEIDARA, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

DEIDARA's M. Serwinowski was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 83 minutes. T. Yanagawa of DEIDARA received a yellow card after 87 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The visitors refused to give in and, after 87 minutes, S. Hansen evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 2 - 2 DEIDARA enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

As neither team had managed to win, extra time was called. 92 minutes into the game, A. Košuta had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. villa's B. Zuffenhausen showed off his trademark ability to do the unexpected with a tricky pass after 94 minutes. Unfortunately, J. Merkle was startled by the play and wasn't able to control the finish. The guests took the lead 98 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in C. Caserta scoring to make it 2 - 3. Game over, DEIDARA win! B. Öztin performed admirably for villa. Á. Montes on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating DEIDARA player was without a doubt A. Košuta. L. Vázquez turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 3.