COPS 3 - 6 Valiente (394112601)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 4189 to FC Krasno. Dion Løber was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Eskild Salskov and Roderik Drooghaar. The match took place on neutral ground. COPS decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. Starters: Iros - Georgiev, Knedlík - Jůn, Brádler, Derviş, Petřík, Jánoš - Jerger, Tholen, Niebauer.

A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Valiente. The following players took the field: Balaban - Panyella, Zigdon - Kousouridis, Havelec, Chrástek, Girshov, Rosa Paz - Ruivo, Marighetti, Huuhka.

COPS used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to L. Jůn, but the COPS player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! The visitors didn't give in and, after 4 minutes, V. Marighetti got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 14 minutes allowed R. Zigdon to score for Valiente. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. G. Ruivo received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 22 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 1 - 3. The Valiente fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave G. Ruivo from Valiente a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 25 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! COPS's Y. Derviş left the field after 32 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was Z. Mandarić. Z. Mandarić was the new captain of COPS - handed the armband by the departing player. COPS players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when V. Knedlík scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the score after the first half. Valiente enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

D. Chrástek found it hard to catch his breath today in the stifling heat. Some fine movement on the left led to a Valiente goal after 63 minutes, making it 2 - 4. V. Marighetti was noted down as the scorer. Valiente increased their lead after 68 minutes when G. Ruivo broke through on the right, upping the score to 2 - 5, much to the home crowd's dismay. The players of Valiente now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 80 minutes were showing on the scoreboard when Valiente's G. Ruivo received his second yellow card and was sent off. After 84 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Valiente found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to passable. I. Petřík almost reduced the deficit, having drawn the entire left side defence away, but the shot went straight into the arms of the goalkeeper. B. Panyella enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again. The referee showed COPS's G. Georgiev the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. C. Rosa Paz of Valiente was able to make an impressive rush past the sluggish V. Knedlík, which resulted in a goal making the score 2 - 6. 89 minutes into the game COPS broke through on the left wing and V. Knedlík managed to reduce the lead to 3 - 6. Valiente's V. Marighetti was shown a yellow card after 89 minutes for slicing down an opponent. I. Petřík of COPS was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Possession in this half belonged to Valiente, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

COPS's best player was S. Tholen. On the other hand, L. Jůn's play was disheartening. The most dominating Valiente player was without a doubt J. Havelec. However, D. Chrástek made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 6.