Arabia 2 - 0 Moravská (393276108)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 2494 at Gammelstaden Park today. Juan Jesús Sánchez was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Riccardo Nesta and Jung-Woo Yun. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Arabia. Lineup: Riiho - Försti, Valén, Fabritius, Leppäsalmi - Nuorala, Viklund, Alasaari, Pursimo, Ahvenniemi - Lillqvist.

Moravská started off with a 4-3-3 lineup. They fielded: Angerer - Freitas, Djiba, Van Parijs, Henderson - Štipčák, Vican, Sapík - Příhoda, Mašík, Rychtařík.

Moravská showed off their creative tactics. P. Mašík caught everyone off guard with a great opening pass - but unfortunately Č. Štipčák was as surprised by the move as anybody else, and managed to miss the extraordinary opportunity. The head of A. Pursimo connected with a corner kick after 33 minutes, and the ball ended up with A. Nuorala of Arabia who blasted the ball into the net, making the score 1 - 0. Having turned the direction of play quickly, the Moravská counter attack ended as the ball carrier was brought down violently by a defender after 38 minutes. The resulting free kick was a flat shot into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and did not allow the opponents to reach the ball. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Arabia claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 84 percent.

62 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as T. Alasaari broke through, making the score 2 - 0 for Arabia. Arabia's A. Nuorala got himself booked for a foul. R. Henderson's lack of experience almost gave Arabia a goal after 72 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. Moravská's V. Rychtařík was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 82 minutes. After 85 minutes Arabia's H. Försti contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. Arabia had most of the ball, with 85 percent of possession.

Arabia's best player was A. Pursimo. On the other hand, T. Riiho's play was disheartening. Moravská's top performer was clearly P. Van Parijs. R. Henderson was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 0.