POPOTES 3 - 0 Juniors (392827123)

1001 spectators had come to POPOTES TEAM Arena this cloudy day. Robert Vereker was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dave Könecke and Andrei Serban. POPOTES had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Friedl - Kihlstedt, Cabello, Stanzani - af Claes, Hillebrand, Vernimmen, Crespo, Zakonjšek - Stroiński, Goten.

A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Juniors. Starters: Zacharopoulos - López-Mingo, Ciya, Martos - Onrubia Rivas, Silveira, Adorno, Auquer - Fermoso, Iciar, Furga.

The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 8 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from M. Kihlstedt, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. POPOTES put in a good effort on the right, but L. Crespo saw his volley fly wide of the mark 12 minutes into the game. POPOTES put themselves up 2 - 0 when L. af Claes broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. POPOTES's A. Zakonjšek had an excellent opportunity after 27 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! 2 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by POPOTES, with 72 percent of the ball.

The POPOTES players could smell victory in the air. R. Friedl wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for R. Tafur after 60 minutes. The coach of POPOTES was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 60 minutes, G. Bergmann came on for M. Kihlstedt. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, O. Vernimmen took over the role of being the POPOTES captain. Content with how the game was proceeding, the POPOTES coach let J. Nieland replace A. Zakonjšek after 60 minutes. 68 minutes into the match, V. Goten could have extended the lead, but his powerful free kick went just over the bar. The referee showed POPOTES's G. Bergmann the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 73 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and L. Hillebrand gave the POPOTES supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 0. The players of POPOTES now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. V. Goten almost put POPOTES ahead another goal when he curled a free kick over the defensive wall and almost into the net, but the visitors' keeper got there just in time to knock it wide. After 80 minutes, Juniors switched W. Furga with A. Bernao, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. E. Zacharopoulos was the new captain of Juniors - handed the armband by the departing player. POPOTES had most of the ball, with 70 percent of possession.

The most dominating POPOTES player was without a doubt O. Vernimmen. On the other hand, R. Tafur's play was disheartening. Juniors's top performer was clearly A. Bernao. S. López-Mingo on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 0.