pekius 1 - 0 Soimul (394264807)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 829 to Allianz Pekius Arena. Hilário Santiago Barros was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ben Schwengeler and Niklas Rothkvist. pekius started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Hennemann - Polinauskas, Panaitescu, Paolini - Kremser, Błachno, Khouja, Meulendijk, Trapé - Caballero Galán, Estaña.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Soimul. The following players had been chosen: Lacalle Barahon - Gómez, Bestué, Ciurana, Censilla - Marichalar, Malamata, Carod, Béjar - Echavarría, Ortiz Leon.

pekius displayed their ability to play creatively. Slack defending gave pekius a chance to take the lead with 3 minutes played, but A. Khouja's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. A counterattack by Soimul after 21 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but V. Béjar, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. T. Meulendijk gave pekius the lead with a beautiful free kick after 29 minutes. 1 - 0! Good work by the Soimul defensive line after 35 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found V. Béjar alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, T. Meulendijk got himself booked. The manager of pekius was not happy. Halftime score was 1 - 0. pekius claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 66 percent.

The referee showed Soimul's A. Marichalar the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Usually a powerful player on the field, D. Malamata looked kind of pale and tired under the hot sun. pekius's R. Estaña's long shot really ought to have found the net 56 minutes into the match, but it fell just wide of the target. T. Meulendijk wanted to play on, but the pekius coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by F. Pădure. R. Estaña left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 75 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. P. Morgan was the replacement. The pekius players could smell victory in the air. F. Polinauskas wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for G. Abreu after 80 minutes. pekius enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 67 percent of possession.

The most dominating pekius player was without a doubt F. Pădure. On the other hand, F. Hennemann's play was disheartening. M. Gómez performed admirably for Soimul. V. Béjar was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 0.