U23 World League

Vila Belmiro
Spectators: 7724 (Terracing: 5794, Seating: 1776, VIP seats: 154) Mattias Downing started the match with the kick off in front of an excited audience. After a rather tough play, Santos FC's Homer Diggs got a free kick in the 2nd minute. Cadu Team's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Mário Secco in the 7th minute. A nice corner shot did that Mattias Downing got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Ahmed Long quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. Gelu Lepuș made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Reyes Ritter in the 11th minute of play. In the 15th minute the ball was on its way in behind Santos FC's goalkeeper Ahmed Long, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. Cadu Team's Mattias Downing suffered a concussion in the 16th minute, after a hard challenge, and had to leave the field. When Homer Diggs fell near the penalty area in the 16th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Santos FC's protests and gave Homer Diggs a yellow card for diving instead. Cadu Team's Hugo Alcântara was substituted for Mattias Downing. Homer Diggs hit a great freekick 17 minutes into the match. Gelu Lepuș made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Kris Marks in the 31st minute of play. If Válbson Paiva had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 34th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Ahmed Long showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Válbson Paiva in the 36th minute of the match. When the match clock showed 38 minutes, the score became 0-1 when Válbson Paiva sped through Santos FC's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Ahmed Long. Ahmed Long came out of the goal in the 42nd minute to try and stop a shot by Cadu Team's Válbson Paiva. But to his dismay, Válbson Paiva quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 0-2. Cadu Team's Gelu Lepuș played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Kris Marks in the 46th minute of play. An unexpectedly hard shot by Kris Marks in the 48th minute of play forced Cadu Team's goalkeeper Gelu Lepuș to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 0-2 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Giuseppe Jewell to make the kick off. Gelu Lepuș made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Louis Ragland in the 52nd minute of play. Gelu Lepuș showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Jimmy Coulter, who was totally free with the ball in the 57th minute. With a little luck, Santos FC's Ahmed Long got control of the ball when 郝榕弘 tried to sneak it across the goal line. The supporters of Santos FC booed when Cadu Team was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 73 match minutes in a wonderful position. Válbson Paiva didn't get a good kick on the ball. The audience was convinced that Válbson Paiva's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Ahmed Long was relentless in the 76th minute of the game. In the 78th minute, Anthony Wall hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. With a little luck, Santos FC's Ahmed Long got control of the ball when 郝榕弘 tried to sneak it across the goal line. 郝榕弘 fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 83rd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Ahmed Long having to interfere. Gelu Lepuș didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Kris Marks went, in the 85th minute, to the upper right corner, 1-2 was the resulting score. Santos FC's Homer Diggs got his second yellow card of the match in the 91st minute. The referee ordered Homer Diggs off the ground. The referee blew the whistle for a penalty in the 91st minute of the game. One of Santos FC:s players had nearly got his shirt torn off by an opponent while getting free in front of Cadu Team:s goal. The referee gave Cadu Team a penalty, 93 minutes into the game. The penalty shot was made by Mário Secco, who made a well placed shot into the net to the right of Santos FC's Ahmed Long. 1-3. The referee blew the final whistle, and the away crowd roared, having watched Cadu Team eke out a victory against a very well matched opponent.