DeRodeDuivels 5 - 1 Karbo (374639890)

A scorching day at Koning Boudewijn Stadion, where 48918 spectators were in place for today's match. Henning Stäblein was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Israel Maimon and Guerric Pique. DeRodeDuivels had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Añel - Monte, Almada, Giampieri - van Straten, Ax, Balke, Brinkman, Alleyn - Roland, van Oldebarneveld.

Karbo started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Lineup: van der Kaaij - Festen, Pereda - Hoitema, van der Mije, Venemans, de Balogh, Machetanz - Vinkers, Halász, Keller.

DeRodeDuivels saw most attack opportunities on the wings. The wings were the focus of most of Karbo's attacks today. C. Giampieri gave DeRodeDuivels 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 M. Brinkman could have put DeRodeDuivels up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 33 minutes. DeRodeDuivels's F. Monte increased the lead to 2 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 34 minutes. L. van der Mije of Karbo received a yellow card after 36 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 0. DeRodeDuivels enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.

The coach of DeRodeDuivels was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 46 minutes, M. Szydło came on for R. Ax. J. van Straten was the new captain of DeRodeDuivels - handed the armband by the departing player. It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why S. van Oldebarneveld found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of DeRodeDuivels to 3 - 0 as J. van Straten finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. F. Añel made a brilliant save 71 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from B. Venemans on the right hand side. DeRodeDuivels's M. Brinkman was shown a yellow card after 82 minutes for slicing down an opponent. E. Festen was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Karbo's E. Stalling had to come off the bench. After 85 minutes, I. Pereda chose the right corner while taking his penalty, humiliating the home keeper, who dived in the wrong direction. The goal reduced the home lead to 3 - 1. DeRodeDuivels's F. Monte got himself booked for a foul. After 87 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and J. van Straten gave the DeRodeDuivels supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 1. The players of DeRodeDuivels now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. With 87 minutes played, DeRodeDuivels put themselves up 5 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to S. van Oldebarneveld, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. DeRodeDuivels claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

The most dominating DeRodeDuivels player was without a doubt M. Brinkman. M. Szydło on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Karbo player was B. Venemans. H. van der Kaaij turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 5 - 1.