Peoples 1 - 2 Madrid (393520680)

1309 punters turned up at Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Mats Beckmo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Luboslav Yaroš and Anders Matsson. Peoples decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. The following players took the field: Simon - Boja, Geisler, Lambeski - Petkovski, Davidovski, Zoqishta, Kola - Myslimi, Godaj, Perrin.

Madrid had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. Starters: Boroi - Noboa, Läfvenander, Amenabar, Ruiz, Bădoiu - Redondo, Varsano, Kieser - Pasiego, Heurtevent.

The wings were the focus of most of Peoples's attacks today. Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Madrid. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Geisler from Peoples a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 6 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 22 minutes into the game, H. Kieser had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. Peoples's F. Kola got himself booked for a foul. 0 - 1 was the score with 27 minutes played, after S. Heurtevent cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Madrid. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Madrid claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

After 54 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for V. Redondo who increased Madrid's lead to 0 - 2. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Madrid lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. With 55 minutes played, M. Amenabar nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. A. Varsano couldn't do anything to stop the technically gifted R. Myslimi as he dodged past on his way to scoring a wonderful goal for Peoples - 1 - 2! Madrid had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

P. Perrin performed admirably for Peoples. O. Simon turned in a dismal performance, however. Madrid's best player was M. Amenabar. On the other hand, D. Boroi's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 2.