United 3 - 1 Pegase (393486833)

3193 spectators arrived at Barbera Bowl, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Artur Wojtczak was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dharmaprakash Mandal and Peter Schindler. United started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. They fielded: Simonsson - Marche, Giussani, Allrutz, Mastrota - Voiculescu, Aimetti, Burgemeester, Karlsson, Russomando - Reekers.

Pegase tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Starters: Maidment - Pequignot, Hongs - Girard, Dudley, Tucker, Parsons, Anderson - Weiss, Faucher, Simeonidis.

For their match strategy, United had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. After 9 minutes of play, F. Burgemeester gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. United's I. Allrutz was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 11 minutes. After 22 minutes, Pegase's S. Simeonidis swiftly ran past I. Allrutz and nutmegged the keeper! 1 - 1. Slack defending gave United a chance to take the lead with 24 minutes played, but G. Aimetti's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, A. Karlsson scored for United putting them ahead 2 - 1, after 30 minutes. It was 2 - 1 at the break. United had most of the ball, with 63 percent of possession.

The United players could smell victory in the air. F. Burgemeester wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for O. Parisse after 46 minutes. Coming from the right, Y. Marche almost managed to score another goal for United, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Against a lesser team, United could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 76 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. With 79 minutes played, United put themselves up 3 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to G. Reekers, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. The players of United now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. G. Reekers left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 89 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. B. Lóczi was the replacement. Possession in this half belonged to United, who controlled the ball 63 percent of the time.

O. Parisse performed admirably for United. I. Allrutz turned in a dismal performance, however. Pegase's best player was D. Tucker. On the other hand, F. Pequignot's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 1.