U23 World League

João Marcatto
Spectators: 7444 (Terracing: 5584, Seating: 1712, VIP seats: 148) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Serafim Ramos made the kick off which started today's match. Babbis Prokos charged in rather forcefully in the 2nd minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Babbis Prokos the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. Cauã Martins showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Babbis Prokos in the 10th minute of the match. Cauã Martins made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Giannis Tzanetos in the 12th minute of play. In the 13th minute, Giannis Tzanetos 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. In the 18th minute, José Paulo de Azevedo 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 a rather tough play, ΟΦΗ's Michalis Semos got a free kick in the 19th minute. Fanis Kokkinopoulos recieved an excellent pass in front of the goal in the 21st minute. Unfortunately, he received the ball on his off foot and could only manage a weak shot that went over the goal. Giannis Tzanetos scored 0-1 in the 23rd match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Cauã Martins, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. When Ismael Secco fell near the penalty area in the 25th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored G.E. Juventus FSCMZ's protests and gave Ismael Secco a yellow card for diving instead. Ismael Secco hit a great freekick 25 minutes into the match. When the match clock showed 26 minutes, the score became 0-2 when Nikos Kalkavouras sped through G.E. Juventus FSCMZ's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Cauã Martins. Edvaldo Romero hit a great freekick 29 minutes into the match. Michalis Semos kicked well hit freekick during the 34th minute of the match. Cauã Martins showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Babbis Prokos, who was totally free with the ball in the 35th minute. Theofanis Marinakis was a little too slow when José Paulo de Azevedo got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 38th minute. The score was now 1-2. José Paulo de Azevedo sent away a hard shot on goal in the 43rd minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. The G.E. Juventus FSCMZ players were disheartened as they walked off the pitch after the first half. ΟΦΗ were winning 1-3.

When the second half was about to start, both teams quickly lined up and Nikos Kalkavouras made a kick off. 59 minutes into the game, Fanis Kokkinopoulos cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 1-4. Cauã Martins was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. After having played for 62 minutes, Giannis Tzanetos managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. ΟΦΗ's supporters crossed their fingers, but Giannis Tzanetos was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. In the 65th minute Fanis Kokkinopoulos shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Cauã Martins saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 79 minutes into the match, Serafim Ramos notched a goal, 2-4, to the right of ΟΦΗ's Theofanis Marinakis. Theofanis Marinakis was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. Cauã Martins took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Fanis Kokkinopoulos, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. After 86 played minutes ΟΦΗ got a freekick which was hit by Fanis Kokkinopoulos. 89 minutes into the match, Babbis Prokos had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Cauã Martins. G.E. Juventus FSCMZ's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Babbis Prokos was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 2-5. Theofanis Marinakis didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Serafim Ramos went, in the 95th minute, to the upper right corner, 3-5 was the resulting score. ΟΦΗ'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.