Northern 2 - 3 Ballsportverein (393428157)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 3040 had shown up at Aldaris Arena for the match. Stefan Rönnström was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Janne Tillér and Hugo Molina. Northern started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players took the field: Meijide - Haapamäki, Sandholm, ten Brink - Lokvenc, Viktorsson, Saastamoinen, Černý - Pahkala, Eno, Rangelov.

A 5-5-0 alignment was the formation of choice for Ballsportverein. The following players had been chosen: Pérez Garzón - Moellinger, Akif, Tietze, 荣楷 (Rongkai), Ravani - Cabello, Tomas, Henkes, Shapkarov, Salazar -.

For their match strategy, Northern had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. 5 minutes into the game, Ballsportverein had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to inadequate. M. Lokvenc of Northern received a yellow card after 19 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. After 32 minutes Northern's F. Viktorsson limped slightly after a late challenge, but he was able to continue. Ballsportverein's O. Salazar managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 36 minutes. 0 - 1. 37 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as K. Akif finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. O. Salazar left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 40 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. E. Ulzburg was the replacement. R. Ravani was handed the Ballsportverein captain's armband. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Ballsportverein, who controlled the ball 61 percent of the time.

A review of the gameplan helped Ballsportverein get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. E. Tietze still has a lot to learn. For instance, he should know not to make half-hearted passes in front of J. Eno, who easily scored for Northern, making it 1 - 2. 70 minutes in, Ballsportverein appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. With 71 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed E. Ulzburg of Ballsportverein to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 3. Northern refused to be intimidated and, breaking through the middle, H. Pahkala managed to slip the ball home for 2 - 3. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 73 minutes, Ballsportverein tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. 80 minutes into the game, Ballsportverein seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to weak. Ballsportverein claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.

The most dominating Northern player was without a doubt V. Rangelov. K. Sandholm on the other hand, had a terrible day. Ballsportverein's best player was H. Cabello. E. Tietze turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 3.