Iacobus 2 - 3 Doriath (367408494)

Dark skies made the crowd of 22535 at Iacobus Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Dan Lifell was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Han IJsbrandij and Rambod Razzaghi. Iacobus had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Schmidt-Stelter - Pountidis, Galanek, Albareda - Domínguez, Maga, Pelletan, Knudsen, Balestrieri - Valdés, Lasarte.

Doriath started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Gabathuler - Jeslund, Birgersson, Veres - Gažmerčík, Morand, Marinas, Yepes Millán, Schlachtensee - Entringer, Safir.

Today, Iacobus's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Against a lesser team, Iacobus could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 7 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. N. Entringer of Doriath received a yellow card after 8 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The guests almost went up by a goal after 12 minutes when J. Jeslund came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. 30 minutes into the game, T. Safir almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. 0 - 1 was the score with 34 minutes played, after T. Safir cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Doriath. G. Morand received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 35 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Doriath fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Doriath, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

Attacking on the wings was the choice for Iacobus, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. Iacobus supporters cheered as good work down the right got the ball to A. Lasarte who reduced the visitors' lead after 47 minutes to 1 - 2. N. Entringer was, after 78 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper F. Schmidt-Stelter made the save. After 82 minutes of play, W. Maga evened things up for Iacobus with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 2 - 2. 86 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Iacobus to take the lead after a good cross from the right found K. Knudsen alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 87 minutes allowed P. Marinas to score for Doriath. The scoreboard now read 2 - 3. After 87 minutes Iacobus's H. Valdés contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave N. Albareda from Iacobus a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 88 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! F. Schmidt-Stelter got a fingertip on H. Schlachtensee's shot from the left 88 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. Doriath had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

The most dominating Iacobus player was without a doubt A. Lasarte. F. Schmidt-Stelter was a disappointment, however. Doriath's top performer was clearly T. Safir. Z. Gažmerčík turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 3.