latina 2 - 1 Sbidu (393211103)

The 40250 spectators at Fonte Nova were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Björn Holmberg was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Aleksi Nihtinen and Carlos Alberto Carvajal. latina decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Lanza - Ferreiro, Kochański, Barratt - Shamir, Kronenberg, Devaja, Halonen, Dusart - Santl, Friargiu.

Sbidu started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Olla - Chanakis, Troiano, Niculae - Martellini, Gandolfi, Carosio, Fanton, Melamed - Guermeur, Procopio.

It was an obvious ambition of latina to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. 5 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but P. Carosio, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. Slack defending gave latina a chance to take the lead with 20 minutes played, but S. Friargiu's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. A well placed corner kick from E. Shamir was followed by S. Friargiu's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for latina, the score now 1 - 0. C. Santl increased the lead for latina to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Sbidu, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

The coach of latina was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 46 minutes, A. Munir came on for C. Santl. As the game started to slip away for Sbidu, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. S. Friargiu could have put latina up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 56 minutes. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Sbidu's M. Troiano was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 60 minutes. M. Di Vincenzo was given a chance to change things around. M. Devaja wanted to play on, but the latina coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 61 minutes into the game by R. Canares. Sbidu were desperate to get a goal back and pushed forward through the middle 72 minutes into the game. After a scramble in the box, the ball dropped to E. Melamed, who smashed it home to make the score 2 - 1. S. Friargiu had a fantastic opportunity to put latina up another goal 75 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the forty-five minutes.

Most important latina player was R. Canares. Z. Kochański on the other hand, had a terrible day. Sbidu's best player was F. Guermeur. E. Melamed was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 1.