[Bootstoots]

quote:
30000 spectators had come to The Yellow Boot this cloudy day. Yellow had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Lineup: Kalkun - Fernández, Knott, Haas, Hawkins - Borgstedt, Leu, Salparanta, Talley - Tomlin, Burney.

Superstars tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. They fielded: Maddox - Ioannidis, Thøgersen, Dunning - Jankowski, Adolfsson, Ericsson, Rusek - Gutierrez, Vu, Rouleau.

It was obvious that Yellow were using pressing as their primary tactic. A badly positioned defensive formation on a free kick in the 10:th minute led to Superstars´s Artur Rusek giving the visitors the lead 0 - 1. At this time in the match, Yellow were using their skills at the press to successfully put pressure on their opponents. 19 minutes into the game Povl Thøgersen had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Norris Puckett. The referee showed Superstarss Artur Rusek the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The away team´s Zacharias Ioannidis took advantage of a mistake to the home side´s right in the 25:th minute increasing Superstars´s lead to 0 - 2. After this Superstars lowered the tempo in order to concentrate on their defensive efforts. After the ball got lifted in from the left Sven-Erik 'Fepas' Adolfsson was on his own in the home side´s penalty area 27 minutes into the game, and should have scored, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. In the games 28:th minute Yellow´s Gonzalo Fernández fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee booked Gonzalo Fernández for taking a dive. 0 - 2 was the half-time score. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Superstars, with an impressive 67 percent possession of the ball.

A well placed corner kick from Maurice Talley was followed by Jonas Borgstedt´s hard but accurate header. The nice combination meant goal for Yellow. The result now 1-2. Superstars had to manage with a reduced squad from the 58:th minute on, as Virgil Gutierrez got sent off for a foul in a free situation. The game was close to savage at times, and Superstars`s Artur Rusek received a second yellow card in the 61st, his ticket out of the game. The player down was Johnny Hawkins. The Yellow bench looked worried a while but in the end he managed to get up. Rolf Leu received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly, probably out of lack of experience, in the 63rd minute and almost caused an opponent to score. Theodore Burney made a superb strike at the goal in the 68:th minute with a long shot coming in from straight in front of the goal, but one of the visitors defenders got a foot in and warded it off to a corner. The fortyfive minutes were dominated by Superstars, with an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

Yellow´s best player was Toomas Kalkun. Evert Salparanta on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Superstars player was without a doubt Sven-Erik 'Fepas' Adolfsson. However, Byron Dunning made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 2.

I'm out of the cup, but I'm content with this result. It was, after all, a division III team that I was playing, and only losing by one was a very good result, all things considered, and I sold out my 30k stadium for the first time. He sure does have an aggressive team, two players sent off within three minutes of each other. I plan on playing the team that I had my first match ever against in a friendly next week; after that, I should be ready for the CDZ cup.