ISNthVan 4 - 0 Manitoba (375867273)

23000 punters turned up at Giuseppe Meazza, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Niklas Pettersson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ron Willoughby and Christobal Sauerzapf. ISNthVan tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Fáy - Blanchard, Colas, Alicea - Anderson, Honkanen, Mirra, van Kassel, Colombo - Long, Timofte.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Manitoba. The following players had been chosen: Santos - Charlton, Moisan, O'Meara, Bason - Hale, Pušonja, Cadotte, Jacobs - Joly, Paradis.

ISNthVan were clearly looking ahead to the next match rather than focusing on the one at hand. ISNthVan mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. 11 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for ISNthVan was A. van Kassel. A. Honkanen increased the lead for ISNthVan to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! ISNthVan players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. C. Anderson should probably have put his team up another goal after 31 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by A. Santos kept the visitors in the game. The referee showed Manitoba's P. Pušonja the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 35 minutes, ISNthVan did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, A. Honkanen was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 3 - 0. ISNthVan's J. Alicea swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. It was 3 - 0 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by ISNthVan, with 76 percent of the ball.

ISNthVan's A. van Kassel struck his penalty well enough to beat the goalkeeper and extend the home team's lead to 4 - 0 after 49 minutes. By now, the players in ISNthVan felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. With 56 minutes played, ISNthVan's A. van Kassel almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. L. Timofte left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 75 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. M. Helmsley was the replacement. C. Anderson wanted to play on, but the ISNthVan coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by R. Davey. The ISNthVan players could smell victory in the air. A. Honkanen wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for B. Morris after 75 minutes. ISNthVan's J. Alicea saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 81 minutes. ISNthVan enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 68 percent of possession.

ISNthVan's best player was J. Alicea. G. Fáy turned in a dismal performance, however. Manitoba's top performer was clearly C. Joly. However, W. Bason made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 0.