Challenge

Martin Palermo
Spectators: 40 (Terracing: 31, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) Santa Maradona's Rodolfo Cordeiro 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. Germany's Albin Holweck got a good chance for a goal in the 2nd minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. With his leg Tommy Kahn managed to avoid a goal in the 4thth minute, when Santa Maradona's Rodolfo Cordeiro fired away a shot with a lot of spin towards his right hand side. 7 minutes into the match, Rigoberto Thomas dribbled the ball past the defender and swiftly kicked the ball to the left of Tommy Kahn, 1-0. In the 11th match minute, Germany was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Sven Krakouer to maneuver through the defense. In the 12th minute of the match Haroldo Martxot sent off a long shot with destination to the right of the goalkeeper, but Tommy Kahn skillfully saved the ball. After a rather tough play, Germany's Adrian Dreifuss got a free kick in the 18th minute. In a very dangerous position, a player in Germany fell when an opponent tried to get the ball from him in the 20th minute. Penalty! The referee gave Santa Maradona a penalty, 23 minutes into the game. The penalty shot was made by Rodolfo Cordeiro, who made a well placed shot into the net to the right of Germany's Tommy Kahn. 2-0. Tommy Kahn made a fantastic save in the 31st minute, when Rodolfo Cordeiro sent off a good shot on target. Tommy Kahn made an important save on a dangerous shot by Rodolfo Cordeiro in the 33rd minute. 34 minutes into the match, Germany's goalkeeper Tommy Kahn had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Rodolfo Cordeiro. Rigoberto Thomas fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 35th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Tommy Kahn having to interfere. Jonathan Errapel showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Frank Sachs in the 38th minute of the match. In the 40th minute of the match, Rodolfo Cordeiro got a very nice opportunity to score, but Tommy Kahn was well-placed and pushed the ball away from the goal at the left post. When the match had gone on for 40 minutes, Rodolfo Cordeiro put it in 3-0 from a short distance just to the right of Tommy Kahn. After 43 minutes, Chris Mergenthaler mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Germany and the Santa Maradona players grew even worse after the yellow card. After 43 played minutes Germany got a freekick which was hit by Chris Mergenthaler. Af the end of the first half the score was 3-0. The first half had gone as expected for the home team.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Frank Sachs to make the kick off. Tommy Kahn showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Rigoberto Thomas, who was totally free with the ball in the 52nd minute. Frank Sachs could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 53rd minute of the match, but Jonathan Errapel made a huge save. An unexpectedly hard shot by Rodolfo Cordeiro in the 55th minute of play forced Germany's goalkeeper Tommy Kahn to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Frank Sachss short, quick shot in the 58thth minute got Jonathan Errapel to make great effort and bar the ball away from getting in. Rodolfo Cordeiro struck a weak shot in the 60th minute. Tommy Kahn didn't even have to move as the ball rolled over the line well wide of the goal. A wasted opportunity for Santa Maradona. After a rather tough play, Santa Maradona's Haroldo Martxot got a free kick in the 62nd minute. In the 65th minute Frank Sachs shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Jonathan Errapel saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. When the match clock showed 66 minutes, the score became 4-0 when Rigoberto Thomas sped through Germany's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Tommy Kahn. In the 70th minute, Frank Sachs made a precise shot to the right of Jonathan Errapel. Santa Maradona's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 4-1. Albin Holweck charged in rather forcefully in the 75th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Albin Holweck the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. In the 80th match minute, Germany was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Adrian Dreifuss to maneuver through the defense. Tommy Kahn didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Rodolfo Cordeiro went, in the 81st minute, to the upper right corner, 6-1 was the resulting score. A collision led to Germany getting a freekick after 85 minutes play. Chris Mergenthaler hit a great ball. Jonathan Errapel was in the perfect position, and the defense had done a good job marking him, but Albin Holweck showcased his skills and made a perfect shot to score 6-2 in the 88 minute of play. 90 minutes into the game, Rodolfo Cordeiro cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 7-2. Tommy Kahn was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Santa Maradona were really happy, having secured the victory after a very even contest. They thanked the players of Germany for a fine match.