Pelicanii 2 - 1 JG (393625393)

A scorching day at Pelicanii Verzi Arena, where 2824 spectators were in place for today's match. Antonio Fontecilla was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Adrien Buffard and Assane Sonko. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Pelicanii. Lineup: Macsim - Andersson, Radu, Maciejczak - Santonen, Radu, Tudor, Vancea, Rubeo - Zgură, Guna.

JG started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players took the field: Pierre - Rixhon, Van Daele, Wilssens, Eloy, Roelands - Baele, Tarr, Watschull, Van Ginderachter - Jovanovski.

Pelicanii were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why F. Jovanovski found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. Pelicanii created a good opportunity to score 10 minutes into the match when C. Tudor's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. The guests almost went up by a goal after 22 minutes when A. Eloy came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to P. Guna, but the Pelicanii player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! Players in Pelicanii heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. 1 - 0 was the score after the first half. Pelicanii enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

The Pelicanii free kick 49 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of A. Zgură, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 2 - 0! The intense heat forced M. Andersson into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. JG earned themselves a free kick after a counterattack wasn't dealt with adequately by their opponents. R. Tarr powered the shot in for 2 - 1. The Pelicanii players could smell victory in the air. T. Rubeo wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for C. Parmendola after 70 minutes. K. Van Daele made a good effort at breaking through on the right, but the home team's left defence cleared the ball to a corner. JG's R. Tarr got himself booked for a foul. F. Maciejczak wanted to play on, but the Pelicanii coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 80 minutes into the game by L. Csernyánszky. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Pelicanii coach let G. Păduraru replace P. Santonen after 80 minutes. Pelicanii claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

Most important Pelicanii player was A. Zgură. L. Csernyánszky was a disappointment, however. The most dominating JG player was without a doubt F. Jovanovski. D. Baele turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 1.