Day one win for Württemberg

Germany may have found a new hero as Württemberg Amateur opened their UEFA Regions' Cup campaign with a 4-0 win against Ticino Amateur.

The new Maradona
An appreciative crowd at the Albstadion in Heidenheim were thrilled by the performances of playmaker Thomas Peschel, who earned the nickname 'Maradona' for his inspiring performance against the Swiss side.

Early chance
However, the tournament hosts were slightly flattered by the scoreline and should have been a goal behind after eight minutes as Ticino striker Denis Guerra managed to miss a free header from two metres out.

Sublime pass
The Swiss were left to curse their finishing a minute later as Peschel announced his arrival with a sublime pass to allow Gaetano Intemperante to beat Luigi Polito in the Ticino goal and open the scoring.

Fierce finish
Bucci was beaten for a second time after twelve minutes as Peschel opened his scoring account with a fierce, low, left-footed finish after the Ticino defence failed to clear a loose ball in Polito's penalty area.

German grip
Both sides had chances to add to the scoring from set pieces in the first half, but neither succeeded, and the Germans never quite relinquished their grip on the game.

Kaiser scores
They shattered Ticino's dreams of a second-half comeback within two minutes of the restart as Steffan Kaiser darted in from the left flank to finish, and crowned their performance with a fourth strike three minutes from time.

Team move
A slick team move gave Marco Mangold the chance to score Württemberg's fourth despite claims that he was offside, but the final result was never in doubt.

'This team was lucky'
The win leaves Württemberg top of Group A, but coach Wolfgang Kopp was the first to admit that his side had ridden their luck, saying: "The Swiss played a very good game and this team was lucky to score twice at the beginning of the match. The Swiss had a very good chance at the start and if they had scored that the final result would not have been the same."