Daibanana 5 - 1 cornelii (393964891)

Due to an all-day shower, 755 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Settimo Leoni. Brian Eilersen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Achille Haebler and Jack Molvik. Daibanana had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players took the field: Arnon - Bernés, Castello, Prati, Centanni - Brule, Giuntoli, Strocchi, Sorgente, Rubrichi - Verducci.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for cornelii. They fielded: Grion - Winkelman, Okker, Wäisänen - Brandt, Tereszkiewicz, Sas, Wienen, Andeiro - Sánchez, Lamande.

The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit S. Verducci just fine. After 10 minutes, N. Strocchi came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Daibanana the lead. After 12 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Daibanana found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. R. Prati did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Daibanana to 2 - 0 as F. Centanni finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. 35 minutes into the game, Daibanana had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to weak. T. Bernés had a fantastic opportunity to put Daibanana up another goal 36 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. K. Okker fired a shot from distance after 40 minutes, but the long shot couldn't find the net for cornelii. The home side's F. Centanni came close to extending the lead 42 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but E. Grion managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. Halftime score was 2 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Daibanana, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.

During the break, Daibanana's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to passable organisation. Daibanana solidified their lead at the 74 minute mark, as S. Verducci dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 3 - 0. After 75 minutes, cornelii switched M. Sánchez with F. Ricchetti, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, M. Wäisänen took over the role of being the cornelii captain. 78 minutes into the game, Daibanana seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a weak level of organisation. Daibanana managed to extend their lead to 4 - 0 when T. Brule cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Confident in their lead, Daibanana's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Daibanana put themselves up 5 - 0 when T. Brule broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave D. Castello from Daibanana a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 81 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! With 83 minutes played, V. Rubrichi could have brought this one home for Daibanana as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, cornelii's D. Brandt somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for C. Lamande, who struck for 5 - 1. Daibanana claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.

S. Verducci performed admirably for Daibanana. V. Rubrichi turned in a dismal performance, however. cornelii's top performer was clearly F. Ricchetti. On the other hand, D. Brandt's play was disheartening. The match ends 5 - 1.