Rottweiler 2 - 0 Esdiegantes (366227451)

The crowd of 16242 turning up at Rottweiler Stadium today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Mats ''Bosen'' Utterström was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fredrik Rothstedt and Sezer Önem. Rottweiler had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. The following players took the field: Martone - Meisner, Sarkisiani, 伊藤 (Ito), Vitez, Moreau - Mammana, Pacifico, Thorstensen, Rocco - Balducq.

Esdiegantes decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. They fielded: Mandese - Ebbinge, Palombini - Pozzan, Pişkin, Dolch, Godói, Codardo - Liukkonen, Kurkinen, Portugal.

Esdiegantes clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. The Rottweiler free kick 29 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 N. Mammana, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 1 - 0! 31 minutes in, Esdiegantes appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only solid. R. Dolch didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. With 40 minutes played, Rottweiler's P. Balducq almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. C. Pacifico had a fantastic opportunity to put Rottweiler up another goal 41 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Esdiegantes's N. Codardo was shown a yellow card after 42 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rottweiler, with 56 percent of the ball.

A review of the gameplan helped Esdiegantes get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. After 46 minutes, Esdiegantes used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. The Esdiegantes coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. With 76 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, T. Meisner needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. The referee showed Esdiegantes's R. Palombini the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The boggy pitch disrupted the game, especially for technical players like T. Kurkinen. Rottweiler put themselves up 2 - 0 when G. Thorstensen broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. The players of Rottweiler now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 86 minutes in, Rottweiler's C. Pacifico received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Esdiegantes, as N. Codardo left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. H. Ciępka took his place on the field. L. Mandese was the new captain of Esdiegantes - handed the armband by the departing player. C. Rocco of Rottweiler was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Rottweiler had most of the ball, with 54 percent of possession.

Rottweiler's top performer was clearly C. Pacifico. G. Martone on the other hand, had a terrible day. R. Dolch performed admirably for Esdiegantes. A. Godói was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 0.