Águias 2 - 1 united (393140188)

The crowd of 2003 turning up at Estádio das Lages today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Jelle-Jan Sier was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Marian Pracki and Helwig Annony. Águias tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Anastásio - Pourtau, Claessens, Vieira - Askenhult, da Rocha, den Hamer, Quintã, de Araújo - Espadilha, Saudade.

united started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Irimie - Udrea, Albrecht, Skoko - Mirică, Sambin, Speriani, Navarro Alas, Pentedekas - Brambilla, Triani.

Águias seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. united used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. The head of B. Albrecht connected with a corner kick after 4 minutes, and the ball ended up with V. Skoko of united who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 0 - 1. united came close to extending their lead as A. Triani delivered a low effort on goal from the right after 8 minutes, but the angle was too narrow and the shot went harmlessly into the side netting. F. da Rocha could have scored for Águias with his free kick after 12 minutes, but the visitors' keeper just managed to get a hand on it. With a shot curled in from just outside the middle of the penalty area after 17 minutes played, E. Espadilha of Águias made the score 1 - 1. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, P. Brambilla got himself booked. The manager of united was not happy. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Águias, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Águias enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

N. Mirică would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. G. Farigu entered the game for united as the match clock showed 50 minutes. After 60 minutes, the united coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving R. Sambin off the field. E. Kaeb took his place. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, J. Askenhult scored for Águias putting them ahead 2 - 1, after 66 minutes. 68 minutes in, united's B. Albrecht received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A. Vieira was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Águias's J. Willhoff had to come off the bench. P. Brambilla knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the united player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. With 77 minutes played, E. Kaeb came in from the right and could have evened the score, but the defenders successfully repelled the attack by united. Águias claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Most important Águias player was J. Willhoff. However, F. da Rocha made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating united player was without a doubt A. Triani. C. Udrea on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 1.