World League

Nilton Santos
Spectators: 7515 (Terracing: 5637, Seating: 1728, VIP seats: 150) Pecém's Xie Shu Tian started the match with a crisp pass. The crowd had been anticipating this game for weeks and the excitement in the stadium was easily visible. A hard shot 5 in the game by Fritz Ernst Joinvilense from a close distance when the talented Denílson Leão managed to make a qualified save. Pecém's players were relieved. After a defensive mix-up in Botafogo AP's zone, Xie Shu Tian stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. José Pedro Bertassi came out of the goal and Xie Shu Tian tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. In the 11th minute, Xie Shu Tian left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Pecém fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 0-1. Botafogo AP's José Pedro Bertassi played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Xie Shu Tian in the 14th minute of play. Sandro Branco made in the 16th minute of the game a quick throw-in and Sandro Branco immediately put the ball in play. Xie Shu Tian fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 18th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without José Pedro Bertassi having to interfere. An unexpectedly hard shot by Ibon Obeso in the 20th minute of play forced Botafogo AP's goalkeeper José Pedro Bertassi to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 25 minutes into the match, Pecém's Xie Shu Tian sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that José Pedro Bertassi narrowly saved just below the crossbar. José Pedro Bertassi took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Xie Shu Tian, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. 31 minutes into the match, Pecém's Xie Shu Tian sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that José Pedro Bertassi narrowly saved just below the crossbar. Fritz Ernst Joinvilense sent away a hard shot on goal in the 33rd minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 35th minute the ball was on its way in behind Botafogo AP's goalkeeper José Pedro Bertassi, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. The corner ended in Diderik Schenning almost managing to get the ball behind the net, but Botafogo AP's José Pedro Bertassi did a great save. An unexpectedly hard shot by Xie Shu Tian in the 38th minute of play forced Botafogo AP's goalkeeper José Pedro Bertassi to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. A nice corner shot did that Diderik Schenning got away a dangerous shot. Despite this José Pedro Bertassi quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. 43 minutes into the match, Xie Shu Tian notched a goal, 1-2, to the right of Botafogo AP's José Pedro Bertassi. José Pedro Bertassi was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. Disappointed in the 1-2 score, the home team went to the dressing room to adjust tactics for the second half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Fritz Ernst Joinvilense to make the kick off. Pecém's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Diderik Schenning in the 57th minute. It was a well-played corner which Ibon Obeso managed to volley towards the net. Unfortunately, he didn't get a great hit on the ball and it went out into the grandstand. 59 minutes into the match, Pecém's Xie Shu Tian sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that José Pedro Bertassi narrowly saved just below the crossbar. After 63 minutes Botafogo AP's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Diderik Schenning who took care of the corner kick. After 67 played minutes Botafogo AP got a freekick which was hit by Laerte de Mendonça. José Pedro Bertassi took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Xie Shu Tian, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. José Pedro Bertassi showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Nicuşor Nebunu in the 74th minute of the match. Botafogo AP made a substitution. Sakarias Johansson replaced Reinaldo Kellogg. After having played for 80 minutes, Nicuşor Nebunu managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Pecém's supporters crossed their fingers, but Nicuşor Nebunu was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. José Pedro Bertassi was out of position in the 81 minute of play, and Lucio Austin capitalized on the mistake with a soft shot into the goal. Lucio Austin really showed his touch with that goal: 1-5. After a defensive mix-up in Botafogo AP's zone, Xie Shu Tian stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. José Pedro Bertassi came out of the goal and Xie Shu Tian tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. After some careless play in the Botafogo AP defense, Lucio Austin kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of José Pedro Bertassi. The Botafogo AP fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that José Pedro Bertassi should have stopped the shot. After 94 minutes of play, Pecém's Xie Shu Tian made it 1-8 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. José Pedro Bertassi was left in no man's land by his defense there! The Pecém supporters could be heard counting down the last seconds of the match. They errupted in celebration when the whistle blew, knowing Pecém would go home with victory in their luggage after a match that easily could have ended differently.