cobreloa 1 - 8 Elena (377148837)

The crowd of 20000 turning up at municipal de calama today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Bok den Adel was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Almir Poljšak and Ricardo Jorge Sobreiro. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for cobreloa. Starters: Velázquez - Queiroga, Olarte, Liberman - Merenda, Boonstra, Valderrama, Doret - Käslin, Bertram, Ballesteros.

Elena had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Nothelfer - Charrúa, Acosta, Kvarnner - Almlund, Ringhio, Seigerschmidt, Eriksen, Gralla - Messuti, Alcaíno.

Elena used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. cobreloa fans held their breath as C. Käslin scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 1 - 0! The home team will be cursing T. Gralla for weeks; he finished off a great pass from the left, knocking it past the keeper without a problem. The match was level at 1 - 1 after 29 minutes. J. Alcaíno of Elena was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. F. Messuti came close to putting the visiting team one up 30 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but G. Velázquez managed to tip the ball to a corner. 32 minutes into the game, cobreloa had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. Elena's H. Almlund was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - F. Messuti managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 1 - 2 after 40 minutes. After 43 minutes, Elena's S. Eriksen burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 1 - 3. The visitors' H. Almlund took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 44 minutes into the match. 1 - 4 for Elena. The referee showed cobreloa's P. Bertram the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 1 - 4 was the halftime score. Elena claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

A review of the gameplan helped cobreloa get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. Elena players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. After 60 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for J. Acosta who increased Elena's lead to 1 - 5. The players of Elena now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. After 63 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave A. Kvarnner a chance to increase the lead for Elena, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 6. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Elena coach let B. Kwiatkowski replace R. Seigerschmidt after 65 minutes. cobreloa's C. Käslin was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 69 minutes. H. Almlund left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 70 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. T. Kalkhoff was the replacement. M. Olarte slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. A drive down the left side allowed S. Ringhio to get in close and score another goal for Elena after 76 minutes, taking the score to 1 - 7. The Elena players could smell victory in the air. J. Alcaíno wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for F. Olmos after 80 minutes. Thighs bulging, P. Bertram charged past the weaker players, seemingly oblivious to the rain. Some fine movement on the left led to a Elena goal after 84 minutes, making it 1 - 8. T. Kalkhoff was noted down as the scorer. Elena had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

S. Valderrama performed admirably for cobreloa. C. Käslin turned in a dismal performance, however. Elena's best player was S. Ringhio. F. Olmos was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 8.