aklasse 4 - 0 EBB (369085144)

The 8081 spectators at Im Kolosseum were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Linus Brogren was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ignacio Sequeiros and Leon Michaelsen. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for aklasse. Lineup: Ungvári - Araneda, Giesbrecht, Aiglstorfer, Hegstad - King, Plebani, Meireles, Blonskis, Kaster - Mydlo.

EBB tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. They fielded: Otoni - Harreshausen, Fedeli, Bernardo - Reutin, Bisio, Danzinger, Vogler - Ruoho, Staller, Regeling.

The strategy for EBB was to use their ability to press. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. King from aklasse a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 29 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! T. Blonskis gave aklasse the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 32 minutes in, aklasse's P. Giesbrecht received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A loud groan was heard from the fans of EBB, as S. Fedeli left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. J. Almeida Borges took his place on the field. aklasse increased the lead as D. Mydlo struck to make the score 2 - 0 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. The aklasse free kick 35 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 H. Meireles, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 0! At this point, it was obvious that the players of aklasse lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. With the clock showing 44 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of EBB resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by J. Almeida Borges in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 0. aklasse claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 72 percent.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, EBB's D. Vogler was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 46 minutes. G. Kovács was given a chance to change things around. With 50 minutes played, the EBB coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. J. Tolić came on, T. Staller had to leave the fray. J. Tolić wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in aklasse's G. Plebani increasing the lead to 4 - 0. H. Harreshausen of EBB received a yellow card after 89 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Possession in this half belonged to aklasse, who controlled the ball 72 percent of the time.

T. Blonskis performed admirably for aklasse. However, H. Meireles made a disastrous appearance. Most important EBB player was L. Danzinger. On the other hand, N. Bisio's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 0.