Challenge

Arena Winters
Spectators: 41 (Terracing: 32, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Leandro Capixaba kicked off to start the match. Airborne FC's Gonçalo Marquez played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Sreten Popovic in the 3rd minute of play. When Abel Gaspar came up free with the goalie in the 6th minute, the Airborne FC fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Abel Gaspar couldn't finish the play. In the 7th minute, Abel Gaspar got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. After 9 minutes of play, Serbia's Sreten Popovic made it 0-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Gonçalo Marquez was left in no man's land by his defense there! Sreten Popovic might have been able to make a better finish in the 12th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Gonçalo Marquez. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Sreten Popovic ran back to his position shaking his head. Edinho Fernandez charged in rather forcefully in the 14th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Edinho Fernandez the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. In the 16th minute there was a penalty for Serbia. Sreten Popovic stepped forward and shot the ball to the right of a diving Gonçalo Marquez. 0-2. Borjan Golubovic hit a great freekick 18 minutes into the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by Sreten Popovic in the 22nd minute of play forced Airborne FC's goalkeeper Gonçalo Marquez to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Gonçalo Marquez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Sreten Popovic, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. The crowd rose to their feet as Abel Gaspar kicked a wonderful shot that went in to the left of a diving Zvezdan Nedeljkovic. That made the score 1-2 in the 26 minute of play. Gonçalo Marquez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Sreten Popovic, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. 34 minutes into the match, Sreten Popovic had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Gonçalo Marquez. Airborne FC's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Sreten Popovic was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 1-3. After 36 played minutes Airborne FC got a freekick which was hit by Abel Gaspar. After a defensive mix-up in Airborne FC's zone, Borjan Golubovic stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Gonçalo Marquez came out of the goal and Borjan Golubovic tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. If Leandro Capixaba had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 41st minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. The audience was convinced that Sreten Popovic's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Gonçalo Marquez was relentless in the 43rd minute of the game. Gonçalo Marquez showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Sreten Popovic in the 45th minute of the match. After the first half Serbia were leading 1-3. They had played with great self confidence throughout the first half and fully deserved their lead.

The wind increased when Sreten Popovic made the kick off in the second half. 62 minutes in the game Rasko Nestorovski did a throw-in, and the ball was quickly in game thanks to Vladeta Jovic. If Sreten Popovic had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 63rd minute. The ball went over the crossbar instead. In the 68th match minute, Serbia was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Jovan Borisov to maneuver through the defense. Abel Gaspar fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 69th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Zvezdan Nedeljkovic having to interfere. 71 minutes into the game, Serbia's Sreten Popovic nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Gonçalo Marquez made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 1-4. Abel Gaspar charged in rather forcefully in the 78th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Abel Gaspar the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. Gonçalo Marquez came out of the goal in the 81st minute to try and stop a shot by Serbia's Sreten Popovic. But to his dismay, Sreten Popovic quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 1-5. Sreten Popovic sent away a hard shot on goal in the 85th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. 92 minutes into the game, Frederico Tinoco was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Airborne FC's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Serbia the free kick. In the 92nd minute, Frederico Tinoco hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Leandro Capixaba's late challenge caught a Serbia's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Leandro Capixaba helped the player get up and apologised. Serbia's players went to the stands to thank the travelling support. The fan's backing had helped spurr the team on to a fine performance that won them the match.