AlmavivA 0 - 2 Friulane (366272439)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 17228 to AlmavivA Arena. Lennert Hese was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Juan Carlos Briones and David Nnodu. AlmavivA had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Színes - Pescetto, Cordera, Iluz - Puccini, Deturres, Padula, Valat, Defla - Starostka, Pessotto.

Friulane tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Rocha - Šnajder, Wahlen, Tucã, Şerban - Medina Paz, Ramírez, Tato, Saturno, MacGilvray - Wochhinger.

Friulane mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. 10 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but A. Tato, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. 15 minutes in, the unpredictable R. MacGilvray of Friulane turned and curled the ball towards goal, but it flew inches wide of the post, almost taking out a member of the crowd! AlmavivA created a good opportunity to score 38 minutes into the match when F. Starostka'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. Friulane's J. Medina Paz gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 39 minutes with a superb strike from the right. S. Színes got a fingertip on I. Saturno's shot from the left 41 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. Friulane's N. Ramírez was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 42 minutes. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Neither team was controlling the possession at this point in the match, with the stats showing a 50:50 split.

G. Puccini of AlmavivA received a yellow card after 47 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 51 minutes into the game, R. MacGilvray had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came E. Mac Kenney. With 64 minutes played, the AlmavivA coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. I. Pais came on, G. Pessotto had to leave the fray. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Tato from Friulane a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 66 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 69 minutes, Friulane's R. Wochhinger burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. After this, you could see that the players of Friulane were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. AlmavivA enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 51 percent of possession.

The most dominating AlmavivA player was without a doubt D. Padula. S. Színes turned in a dismal performance, however. Friulane's best player was A. Tato. E. Mac Kenney on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 2.