Ginga! 3 - 0 Cruzados (375603231)

It had rained all day, but 54596 hardy fans still made it out to Falcao. Claes Tillbo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Juan Gonzalez and Patrik Ingemarsson. Ginga! started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Cifuentes - Juaristi, Schaap, van Basten - Marzolini, Muzard, Wolfegg, Pardos, Elsener - Villalobos, Quera.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Cruzados. Starters: van der Meer - Marinkovic, Berroeta, Bächler - Merino Sancho, Mesco, Wittemberg, Saquet, Pilotto - Iparraguirre, Varela.

It was obvious that Cruzados were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. Ginga! had a good opportunity to take the lead as P. Muzard came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of M. van der Meer. B. Marzolini had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. After 15 minutes of play, F. Quera gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. F. Quera could have increased the lead after 17 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. 1 - 0 was the score after the first half. Ginga! had most of the ball, with 58 percent of possession.

With 50 minutes played, the Cruzados coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. C. Dena came on, P. Iparraguirre had to leave the fray. The Cruzados coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. A well placed corner kick from B. Marzolini was followed by A. Pardos's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Ginga!, the score now 2 - 0. Confident in their lead, Ginga!'s players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Ginga! to 3 - 0 as F. Quera finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. After 70 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by B. Marzolini might have resulted in another goal for Ginga!. However, M. van der Meer made a spectacular save. N. Elsener of Ginga! was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Ginga! almost scored after a swift counterattack 78 minutes into the game, but C. Villalobos put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. The bench was restless, and with 89 minutes passed Cruzados's coach gave I. Bouchahda the opportunity the player had been hoping for. R. Pilotto reluctantly left the field. Ginga! enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

Ginga!'s best player was F. Quera. F. van Basten was a disappointment, however. N. Varela performed admirably for Cruzados. I. Bouchahda on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 3 - 0.