Challenge

Croatia Arena
Spectators: 44 (Terracing: 34, Seating: 10, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Toni Mauzer started the match with the kick off. In the 4th minute, Róbson Messias ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Ilija Skugor was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-1. Dorival Bittencourt kicked well hit freekick during the 14th minute of the match. After 19 played minutes Croatia got a freekick which was hit by Teo Gudelj. After 20 minutes, Dorival Bittencourt mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Rockets and the Croatia players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 21st minute, Dorival Bittencourt hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. After a rather tough play, Croatia's Neven Culina got a free kick in the 27th minute. Croatia's Ilija Skugor played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Gilvan Chaves in the 33rd minute of play. Ilija Skugor took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Róbson Messias, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Silvije Santek made in the 40th minute of the game a sloppy throw-in which Neven Culina however managed to control. 43 minutes into the game, Rockets's Lucas Guedes nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Ilija Skugor made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-2. The Croatia players were disheartened as they walked off the pitch after the first half. Rockets were winning 0-2.

The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Róbson Messias was the one to do the kick off. In the 60th minute, Gilvan Chaves reached a very good position and smashed the ball with a huge effort into the net, just to the left of Ilija Skugor. The goal made the score 0-3. João Adolfo Mineiro made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Toni Mauzer in the 65th minute of play. Neven Culina fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 73rd minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without João Adolfo Mineiro having to interfere. Croatia's Ilija Skugor played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Gilvan Chaves in the 78th minute of play. Ilija Skugor took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from João Pedro de Senna, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Dorival Bittencourt kicked well hit freekick during the 83rd minute of the match. 87 minutes into the match, Croatia's goal looked a bit too open when Róbson Messias came free, but Ilija Skugor reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. In the 88th minute Róbson Messias shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Ilija Skugor saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. When Damir Pongrac fell near the penalty area in the 92nd minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Croatia's protests and gave Damir Pongrac a yellow card for diving instead. The supporters of Rockets booed when Croatia was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 92 match minutes in a wonderful position. Damir Pongrac didn't get a good kick on the ball. Rockets's fans were overjoyed with their teams well-earned victory and stayed in the stadium long after the final whistle to celebrate the win.