Spanish 2 - 3 esparracats (394278390)

The crowd of 831 turning up at Isla de Leon today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Matthijs van der Vaart was the appointed referee with assistance provided by David Sánchez and Peter Moser. Spanish decided to use a 4-3-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Jericha - Catasús, Ciuffa, Fiori, Vidal - Nikačević, Lucci, Tamayo - Moinier, Mainez, 關山 (Guanshan).

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for esparracats. Starters: Stikker - Fonollet, Stafiński, Melchor Gil - Oñate, Llàcer, Molér, Sáez Íñiguez, Aguilella - Bel, Simov.

Spanish displayed their ability to play creatively. esparracats mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. The most controversial moment of the game was likely the penalty given after 12 minutes. esparracats's J. Molér kept his concentration, despite the upset crowd, and calmly put the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 1. J. Molér was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! The home crowd cheered when, after 17 minutes, V. Sáez Íñiguez's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. 24 minutes into the game, F. Ciuffa came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. esparracats claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.

The crowd chanted their encouragement as Spanish's F. Lucci came in from the right after 53 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 1 - 1. Spanish had to make a substitution after 69 minutes. 江. 關山 (Guanshan) limped off the field and was replaced by M. Chaca. esparracats's E. Stafiński could have put the guests one up after 70 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but P. Jericha was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. 71 minutes into the game, J. Melchor Gil had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came A. Aznar. Spanish created a good opportunity to score 72 minutes into the match when M. Nikačević'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. esparracats made it 1 - 2 as A. Aznar got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to V. Sáez Íñiguez who whipped a low drive in off the far post. Spanish's M. Tamayo was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - F. Moinier managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 2 - 2 after 74 minutes. esparracats took the lead 78 minutes into the game, making the score 2 - 3 after some elegant movement down the middle. V. Sáez Íñiguez was the scorer. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by esparracats, with 59 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Spanish player was without a doubt M. Chaca. P. Catasús was a disappointment, however. esparracats's top performer was clearly A. Aznar. However, H. Bel made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 3.