Kobe 2 - 2 SoloHellas (335338903)

The 24910 spectators at Staple Center were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Koni Balzarini was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Julius Mrázek and Lauri Kanervala. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Kobe. The following players had been chosen: Anguita - Otegi, Calhoun, Andrian, Cicogna - Rosário, Rappl, Segatori, Sigmund - Gurău, Groenland.

SoloHellas tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. They fielded: Aranzubia - Bruestle, Durocher, Aernouts, Nieckarz - Domènech, Härkönen, Némedi - Montaño, Radowitz, Zülle.

Kobe had a good opportunity to take the lead as M. Cicogna came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of I. Aranzubia. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when M. Radowitz slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against F. Anguita, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. After 15 minutes of play, G. Gurău gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Kobe, with 52 percent of the ball.

With 62 minutes played, J. Härkönen came in from the right and could have evened the score, but the defenders successfully repelled the attack by SoloHellas. There was concern in the stands when, at the 63 minute mark, SoloHellas's I. Aranzubia hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. The intense heat forced G. Aernouts into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. E. Montaño finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 1 - 1 64 minutes into the match. SoloHellas's O. Domènech could have put the guests one up after 65 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but F. Anguita was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. SoloHellas's D. Némedi was shown a yellow card after 69 minutes for slicing down an opponent. SoloHellas's C. Bruestle had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 75 minutes having been played. F. Valtemara was the replacement. After 79 minutes, M. Cicogna came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 2 - 1, giving Kobe the lead. With 81 minutes played, SoloHellas's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to M. Radowitz he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 2 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to SoloHellas, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

The most dominating Kobe player was without a doubt G. Gurău. F. Anguita on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important SoloHellas player was J. Härkönen. On the other hand, G. Aernouts's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 2.