Buracona 2 - 1 Netoenses (331103962)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 99402 at São Nicolau-DI DEUS Arena today. Dirk Wiesel was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Maurizio Stasi and Stefan Sundhult. The match took place on neutral ground. Buracona started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Edmondson - Garcia, Andrade, Paiva - Annus, Loria, Esteves, Sigurbjörnsson, Krug - Venância, Malheiro.

A 5-4-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Netoenses. Starters: Moreaux - Cenacchi, Vorstenbosch, Matute, Santamaria, Nekola - Faquinha, Felgar, Seguna, Nicosia - Simonet.

Buracona were very close to putting themselves one up after 19 minutes as T. Venância got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. The most controversial moment of the game was likely the penalty given after 22 minutes. Netoenses's O. Nicosia kept his concentration, despite the upset crowd, and calmly put the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 1. With 30 minutes gone, Buracona had a free kick in a decent position. Despite this being a great chance for a shot, they tried a cheeky move intended to bypass the defence. However, T. Venância did not manage to connect with it cleanly and the ball went out. Given a free kick close to the byline, Buracona tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let T. Venância slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 1 - 1, 36 minutes into the game. Some great play up the middle by Buracona led to a chance for A. Annus to score after 38 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. Buracona had a chance to take the lead after T. Venância's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled out as his shot went just over the bar after 39 minutes. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Buracona, with 67 percent of the ball.

54 minutes in, Buracona's H. Sigurbjörnsson received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A. Malheiro caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 61 minutes. This gave Buracona the 2 - 1 lead. Buracona's Q. Esteves refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 76 minutes. C. Krug could have increased the lead after 77 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, G. Faquinha got himself booked. The manager of Netoenses was not happy. A. Annus should probably have put his team up another goal after 82 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by M. Moreaux kept the visitors in the game. Buracona claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 70 percent.

The most dominating Buracona player was without a doubt A. Malheiro. A. Annus was a disappointment, however. B. Simonet performed admirably for Netoenses. However, U. Cenacchi made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 1.