U23 World League

Galaxy Arena
Spectators: 7506 (Terracing: 5630, Seating: 1726, VIP seats: 150) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Roger Costa made the kick off which started today's match. Sebastião Garcia made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Roger Costa in the 4th minute of play. After having played for 8 minutes, Nelsinho Cunha managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. São José City - FSCMZ's supporters crossed their fingers, but Nelsinho Cunha was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Hélder Severo made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Raphael de Brito in the 13th minute of play. Elite™- FC Galácticos's Sebastião Garcia played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Dito Xavier in the 16th minute of play. In the 16th minute, João Pedro Xavier hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. In the 18th minute Roger Costa shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Sebastião Garcia saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Hélder Severo made an important save on a dangerous shot by Cristóvão Maciel in the 21st minute. Hélder Severo showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Raphael de Brito, who was totally free with the ball in the 25th minute. Edgard Cavalcante's late challenge caught a São José City - FSCMZ's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Edgard Cavalcante helped the player get up and apologised. After a rather tough play, Elite™- FC Galácticos's Edgard Cavalcante got a free kick in the 28th minute. After 28 played minutes, São José City - FSCMZ's Luiz Paulo Leão shot from a long distance, and at first it looked like the ball was going into the goal, but the goalkeeper Sebastião Garcia came through and got his fingers on the ball before it flew over the goal line. He then quickly gripped the ball tighter before the forwards in São José City - FSCMZ reached it. In the 31st minute, João Pedro Goiano left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Elite™- FC Galácticos fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 1-0. The crowd rose to their feet as Cristóvão Maciel kicked a wonderful shot that went in to the left of a diving Hélder Severo. That made the score 2-0 in the 36 minute of play. In the 41st minute, Nelsinho Cunha ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Sebastião Garcia was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-1. Jonas Abreu scored 3-1 in the 47th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Hélder Severo, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. The away team players looked dejected as the walked off the pitch at half time. They had fought hard, but were still losing 3-1.

The hometeam waved at the audience when it was time for Cristóvão Maciel to strike the kick off in the second half. 54 minutes into the game, Raphael de Brito was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Elite™- FC Galácticos's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave São José City - FSCMZ the free kick. An unexpectedly hard shot by Raphael de Brito in the 61st minute of play forced São José City - FSCMZ's goalkeeper Hélder Severo to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. After some careless play in the São José City - FSCMZ defense, João Pedro Goiano kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Hélder Severo. The São José City - FSCMZ fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Hélder Severo should have stopped the shot. Sebastião Garcia made a fantastic save in the 72nd minute, when Nelsinho Cunha sent off a good shot on target. 74 minutes into the match, Elite™- FC Galácticos's goal looked a bit too open when Ciro Toledo came free, but Sebastião Garcia reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. After some careless play in the Elite™- FC Galácticos defense, Ciro Toledo kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Sebastião Garcia. The Elite™- FC Galácticos fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Sebastião Garcia should have stopped the shot. After 80 played minutes São José City - FSCMZ got a freekick which was hit by Edgar Cavalcante. An unexpectedly hard shot by Raphael de Brito in the 91st minute of play forced São José City - FSCMZ's goalkeeper Hélder Severo to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Elite™- FC Galácticos's João Pedro Xavier got his second yellow card of the match in the 95th minute. The referee ordered João Pedro Xavier off the ground. In the 96th minute, João Pedro Xavier hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. The supporters of Elite™- FC Galácticos booed when São José City - FSCMZ was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 97 match minutes in a wonderful position. Ciro Toledo didn't get a good kick on the ball.