Atl. VW 1 - 1 RITORNO (381804015)

Dark skies made the crowd of 17520 at VelaWeb Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Isaak Külb was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Enrique Duyck and Raymond Olsen. Atl. VW had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Fredborg - Siren, Rashid, Defranceschi - Sorrentino, Elbæk, Sánchez García, Hernitscheck, Dedulis - Bilek, Brantega.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for RITORNO. The following players took the field: Gerhart - Wiik, Yaacov, Féria - Moliterni, Săftoiu, Gennaro, Wiszczak, Gricourt - Vunderink, Aguacero.

Atl. VW saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Today, RITORNO's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 29 minutes into the match, and A. Săftoiu wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. G. Polsi was called on to replace Atl. VW's C. Bilek after 30 minutes following a nasty collision. With 37 minutes played, A. Săftoiu nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. Atl. VW put pressure on the visitors' central defence 39 minutes into the game, but L. Dedulis couldn't find an opening. After 40 minutes of game time, A. Săftoiu had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but T. Fredborg was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. RITORNO had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

The visitors almost increased their lead after 72 minutes when a sweetly hit free kick looked like it was heading for the top corner. However the keeper managed to get a fingertip to it, sending it over the bar. With 74 minutes played, Atl. VW's M. Elbæk found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. Atl. VW's G. Polsi made an attempt at equalising 80 minutes into the match, coming in from the right, but the ball hit the post and the defence easily cleared the rebound. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 82 minutes into the match, an alert G. Polsi bagged the ball for Atl. VW, levelling the score to 1 - 1. RITORNO enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

P. Sánchez García performed admirably for Atl. VW. U. Rashid was a disappointment, however. RITORNO's top performer was clearly A. Săftoiu. M. Gennaro on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 1.