U23 World League

Arena Bombadão
Spectators: 7724 (Terracing: 5794, Seating: 1776, VIP seats: 154) Demis Laggizos started the match with the kick off in front of an excited audience. Krama Bollen took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Demis Laggizos, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 8th minute, Gerasimos Vasilarakos hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Tales Donato kicked well hit freekick during the 9th minute of the match. Krama Bollen showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Demis Laggizos in the 10th minute of the match. After 12 minutes Xandeco FC's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Filippos Kopelis who took care of the corner kick. Edmund Balkiewicz recieved an excellent pass in front of the goal in the 13th minute. Unfortunately, he received the ball on his off foot and could only manage a weak shot that went over the goal. A throw-in in the 17th minute of the game was made by Filippos Trontzos with Ignatios Papachronakis as target, who quickly passed the ball forward. In the 19thth minute of the game Edmund Balkiewicz who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but GREEN LIONS's Vaggelis Pantelidis was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. Vaggelis Pantelidis stood somewhat misplaced when Edmund Balkiewicz came free in front of goal and shot 1-0 to the left of him in the 19 minute. 39 minutes into the match, GREEN LIONS's goal looked a bit too open when Enio Ceresso came free, but Vaggelis Pantelidis reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Krama Bollen made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Demis Laggizos in the 41st minute of play. In the 42nd minute of the match GREEN LIONS got a corner. Xandeco FC's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Filippos Kopelis ran over to the corner to take the kick. Ignatios Papachronakis charged in rather forcefully in the 47th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Ignatios Papachronakis the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. A collision led to GREEN LIONS getting a freekick after 47 minutes play. Ignatios Papachronakis hit a great ball. All the noise was coming from the home fans when the whistle went for half-time. The home team had fought hardest to put themselves in a deserved lead.

The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Edmund Balkiewicz was the one to do the kick off. Xandeco FC's Krama Bollen proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 58th minute of the match, managed to save Xandeco FC from getting a goal against them. The audience was convinced that Demis Laggizos's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Krama Bollen was relentless in the 59th minute of the game. After a rather tough play, GREEN LIONS's Dimitris Petriniotis got a free kick in the 60th minute. 63 minutes into the match, Xandeco FC's goal looked a bit too open when Demis Laggizos came free, but Krama Bollen reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. The referee was alert and spotted a serious foul by Edmund Balkiewicz during the 65th minute. The player immediately received a yellow card. After a rather tough play, Xandeco FC's Edmund Balkiewicz got a free kick in the 65th minute. In the 68th minute, one of GREEN LIONS:s players had the ball in front of the goal but got pushed and fell. The referee felt it was an obvious case and blew a penalty for GREEN LIONS. With a little luck, Xandeco FC's Krama Bollen got control of the ball when Demis Laggizos tried to sneak it across the goal line. A collision led to GREEN LIONS getting a freekick after 79 minutes play. Filippos Kopelis hit a great ball. After 81 minutes, Enio Ceresso mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Xandeco FC and the GREEN LIONS players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 81st match minute, Xandeco FC was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Enio Ceresso to maneuver through the defense. 2-0 became the score in the 86th minute when Edmund Balkiewicz elegantly shot the ball into goal just under the crossbar. Xandeco FC made a substitution. Geraldo Palmeira replaced Antônio Martins. An unexpectedly hard shot by Filippos Kopelis in the 90th minute of play forced Xandeco FC's goalkeeper Krama Bollen to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 91st minute of the match GREEN LIONS got a corner. Xandeco FC's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Filippos Kopelis ran over to the corner to take the kick. Xandeco FC's Krama Bollen played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Gerasimos Vasilarakos in the 94th minute of play. 98 minutes into the match, Melik Settar had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Vaggelis Pantelidis. GREEN LIONS's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Melik Settar was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 3-0. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered when the referee blew the final whistle. Xandeco FC had won after a very even match.