Robin 2 - 3 T.A.D (393017538)

The crowd of 20000 turning up at Arsenal today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Joosef Lomperi was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Yao Hwen Thiang and Manfred Daecke. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Robin. They fielded: Pedersen - de Araújo, San Sadurniño, Velichkov, Vaggelli - Martínez Díaz, Camara, Kallinna, Guła - Romi, Dijoux.

T.A.D tactics involved an interesting 3-5-1 combination. The following players took the field: Holleben - Oksanen, Ricciardi, Hamid - Parsonage, Beaton, Himburg, Schoeffel, Felkel - Hamdan.

For their match strategy, Robin had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. D. Beaton, who often relies on his speed, had a rotten day on the drenched grass. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when A. Hamdan slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against L. Pedersen, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. Robin were able to draw a foul with their counterattacks, but the shot from S. Martínez Díaz went into the arms of the keeper. After 22 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as T.A.D found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to passable. Robin's counterattacks were lethal to the opposing defence, allowing O. Dijoux to score easily from the right flank for 1 - 0. 33 minutes in, T.A.D appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. The counterattack by T.A.D resulted in a free kick that K. Schoeffel bent under the crossbar - 1 - 1! A penalty was given after 37 minutes, allowing the visitors to gain the lead: 1 - 2. K. Schoeffel was the scorer. 41 minutes into the game, T.A.D seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a weak level of organisation. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by T.A.D, with 59 percent of the ball.

The coach gave his players an extra tactical briefing during the break, and after that T.A.D had passable organisation. With 53 minutes having been played, Robin scored to make it 2 - 2. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but S. de Araújo was marked down as the scorer. The guests almost went up by a goal after 60 minutes when C. Parsonage came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. 80 minutes into the game, T.A.D had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like O. Dijoux. 84 minutes in, T.A.D appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 87 minutes into the match left T.A.D's C. Parsonage completely free to score. 2 - 3 for the visitors. T.A.D had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

M. Camara performed admirably for Robin. B. Kallinna turned in a dismal performance, however. T.A.D's top performer was clearly K. Schoeffel. K. Hamid on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 3.