Pizza 0 - 4 Affori (393217833)

The 1006 spectators at Pizza & Fichi Arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Diderick Töscher was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Arturo Hernández and Anders Holmgren. Pizza decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Starters: Paolini - Camorani, Caridi - Lizza, Rubi, Gosmar, Termali, Voccoli - Tedeev, Zanatta, Pistarà.

Affori started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Padovani - Godelaine, Kyngäs, Grancagnolo - Arcontilli, Baldi, Rousselle, La Cognata, Takács - Nedoklanov, Białka.

Affori mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. At 11 minutes played, N. Zanatta came in from the right with the intention of giving Pizza the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. It was obvious that team Affori had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. Affori took the lead 15 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. Z. Takács was the scorer. The sun seemed to put D. Tedeev in a great mood, and he showed off his technical skills all match long. 39 minutes in, the unpredictable N. Zanatta of Pizza turned and curled the ball towards goal, but it flew inches wide of the post, almost taking out a member of the crowd! A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area with a goal nearly scored by B. Białka. At last, Affori's M. Godelaine was able to backheel the ball in. 0 - 2. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Affori lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. J. Rousselle dispatched a majestic long shot 44 minutes into the match, but missed the goal by a few metres. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Affori had most of the ball, with 61 percent of possession.

With 46 minutes played, the Pizza coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. G. Mendrino came on, M. Caridi had to leave the fray. After 46 minutes, Pizza switched O. Lizza with C. Mastrosimone, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. After 58 minutes, Pizza's N. Zanatta fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! After 60 minutes Pizza's F. Rubi contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. After 68 minutes, Affori's B. Białka burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. M. Godelaine wanted to play on, but the Affori coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 70 minutes into the game by L. Puyal. Affori increased the lead to 0 - 4 as Z. Takács scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. The coach of Affori was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 80 minutes, L. Glick came on for A. Nedoklanov. 84 minutes into the match, Z. Takács came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. Affori were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Affori, with 65 percent of the ball.

Most important Pizza player was D. Tedeev. C. Mastrosimone on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Affori player was without a doubt J. Rousselle. On the other hand, A. Grancagnolo's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 4.