Mamaliga 5 - 2 niv999 (394225081)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and WE WILL ROCK YOU ARENA saw a crowd turnout of 1690. Jonas Bøgholm was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Simón Parra and Mario Incerpi. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Mamaliga. They fielded: Clerx - Rantala, Apáti, Krstić - Friebel, Fellner, Dadone, Offelli, Salvioni - Sbaraglia, Venczel.

niv999 tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Latikka - Zadok, Bukin, Mellanen, Peretz - Knesl, Shnayderman, Lifshitz, Vincent, Karbin - Landau.

Mamaliga mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. It was an obvious ambition of niv999 to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. The Mamaliga free kick 17 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 S. Salvioni, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 1 - 0! The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. Mellanen from niv999 a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 32 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 37 minutes, Mamaliga sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached A. Krstić, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 2 - 0. Players in niv999 heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their S. Vincent reduced the lead to make it 2 - 1 after 41 minutes, following a pass from the right. After 42 minutes, the visitors tied it up at 2 - 2 when a fantastic pass from the left was finished off by B. Landau. They were singing the praises of H. Friebel 43 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 3 - 2 to Mamaliga. 3 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Mamaliga, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

Coming from the right, A. Krstić almost managed to score another goal for Mamaliga, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. The Mamaliga players could smell victory in the air. D. Venczel wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for N. van Geuns after 70 minutes. V. Bukin of niv999 received a yellow card after 70 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. N. van Geuns squirmed through their central defence after 71 minutes, increasing the lead to 4 - 2. By now, the players in Mamaliga felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Mamaliga's H. Friebel was shown a yellow card after 77 minutes for slicing down an opponent. P. Sbaraglia increased the lead for Mamaliga to 5 - 2, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! Mamaliga claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 63 percent.

P. Sbaraglia performed admirably for Mamaliga. On the other hand, A. Rantala's play was disheartening. niv999's best player was B. Landau. J. Mellanen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 2.