Challenge

White Hart Lane
Spectators: 40 (Terracing: 31, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Ferenc Puskás started the match with the kick off. 3 minutes into the match, Tottenham Hotspurs's goal looked a bit too open when Adam Olaru came free, but Damián Martínez reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Alex Serban might have been able to make a better finish in the 7th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Damián Martínez. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Alex Serban ran back to his position shaking his head. Ferenc Puskás received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 9th minute. Carol Stinga tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Tottenham Hotspurs's Damián Martínez played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Costica Vladimiri in the 11th minute of play. Damián Martínez showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Costica Vladimiri, who was totally free with the ball in the 13th minute. After 15 minutes of play, Romania's Costica Vladimiri made it 0-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Damián Martínez was left in no man's land by his defense there! A collision led to Tottenham Hotspurs getting a freekick after 18 minutes play. Valério Santana hit a great ball. 20 minutes into the match, Tottenham Hotspurs's goal looked a bit too open when Adam Olaru came free, but Damián Martínez reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. After 22 minutes of play, Tottenham Hotspurs's Ferenc Puskás made it 1-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Carol Stinga was left in no man's land by his defense there! When Ferenc Puskás fell near the penalty area in the 24th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Tottenham Hotspurs's protests and gave Ferenc Puskás a yellow card for diving instead. A collision led to Tottenham Hotspurs getting a freekick after 24 minutes play. Ferenc Puskás hit a great ball. Carol Stinga took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Ferenc Puskás, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Ferenc Puskás in the 31st managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Carol Stinga saved Romania from getting behind. The audience was convinced that Ferenc Puskás's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Carol Stinga was relentless in the 31st minute of the game. In the 32nd minute of the match Tottenham Hotspurs got a corner. Romania's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Valério Santana ran over to the corner to take the kick. A nice corner shot did that Valério Santana got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Carol Stinga quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. 35 minutes into the match, Romania's goal looked a bit too open when Ferenc Puskás came free, but Carol Stinga reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Damián Martínez made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Adam Olaru in the 36th minute of play. A throw-in in the 40th minute of the game was made by Filip Stefan with Alex Serban as target, who quickly passed the ball forward. 43 minutes into the game, Adam Olaru cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 1-2. Damián Martínez was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 1-2 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Adam Olaru stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. Damián Martínez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Adam Olaru, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. After some careless play in the Tottenham Hotspurs defense, Costica Vladimiri kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Damián Martínez. The Tottenham Hotspurs fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Damián Martínez should have stopped the shot. 61 minutes into the match, Ferenc Puskás had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Carol Stinga. Romania's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Ferenc Puskás was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 2-3. Romania's Octavian Vaduva was substituted for Costica Vladimiri. Romania's Alexandru Pangratiu was substituted for Alex Serban. After 73 minutes Tottenham Hotspurs's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Sanda Cutov who took care of the corner kick. In the 77th minute, Ferenc Puskás left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Tottenham Hotspurs fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 3-3. Sanda Cutov took the ball and in the 80 minute, shot a rapid shot to the right of a surprised Damián Martínez. Damián Martínez dived to the right, and did manage to get a hand on the shot, but it still went into the right corner making it 3-4. Tottenham Hotspurs made a substitution. Eustaquio Marques replaced Ferenc Puskás. In the 89th minute of the match, Anton Stinga tried to roll the ball into the goal by the right post, but Damián Martínez saw his intentions and got control of the ball before it passed the line. Octavian Vaduva might have been able to make a better finish in the 93rd minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Damián Martínez. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Octavian Vaduva ran back to his position shaking his head. When the match was over Romania could go home with a victory in their luggage, having controlled the game far better than Tottenham Hotspurs throughout the match.