Challenge

Arena Palestra Ceará
Spectators: 40 (Terracing: 31, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Örjan Björkdahl kicked off to start the match. John Osomo didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Joel Gaona went, in the 4th minute, to the upper right corner, 0-1 was the resulting score. A collision led to PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ getting a freekick after 9 minutes play. Tom Kuijpers hit a great ball. Joel Gaona received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 11th minute. John Osomo tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Leonardo Leoz made in the 15th minute of the game a throw-in that took a bad bounce and was taken care of by PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's Zé Ortiz. John Osomo took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Lautaro Mancebo, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. John Osomo made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Alberto Tafalla in the 23rd minute of play. Tom Kuijpers hit a great freekick 24 minutes into the match. The throw-in from Leonardo Leoz in the 26th minute of the game was unfortunally taken care of by PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's Zé Ortiz. Mexico's Dante Lacasa proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 27th minute of the match, managed to save Mexico from getting a goal against them. In the 29th minute, Tom Kuijpers hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. John Osomo made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Joel Gaona in the 37th minute of play. PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's attentive Tom Kuijpers managed to snatch the ball when Macos Graciani made a throw-in in the 42nd minute of the game. PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's John Osomo played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Alberto Tafalla in the 47th minute of play.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Joel Gaona to make the kick off. 52 minutes had been played when some careless play by PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Joel Gaona was slow to take the kick. During this time Mexico's players had a chance to rest. If Lautaro Mancebo had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 54th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. John Osomo was a little too slow when Alberto Tafalla got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 66th minute. The score was now 0-2. PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ made a substitution. Bruno do Vale replaced Clarence Seedorf. In the 82nd minute Joel Gaona shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but John Osomo saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. An unexpectedly hard shot by Örjan Björkdahl in the 83rd minute of play forced Mexico's goalkeeper Dante Lacasa to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Örjan Björkdahl hit a great freekick 86 minutes into the match. After some fancy dribbling in the 88th minute, Örjan Björkdahl managed to get in a good position for a shot. PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ's supporters rose to their feet, but Örjan Björkdahl was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Dante Lacasa breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Dante Lacasa showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Örjan Björkdahl, who was totally free with the ball in the 95th minute. When the match was over Mexico could go home with a victory in their luggage, having controlled the game far better than PALMEIRAS CE - DMZ throughout the match.