Challenge

Queen Arena
Spectators: 42 (Terracing: 32, Seating: 10, VIP seats: 0) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Victor Piţurcă made the kick off which started today's match. The supporters of Emerald booed when Mexico was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 5 match minutes in a wonderful position. Leonardo Leoz didn't get a good kick on the ball. Lorenzo Cazalla hit a great freekick 6 minutes into the match. Emerald's Julio Iglesias got a good chance for a goal in the 7th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. An unexpectedly hard shot by Joel Gaona in the 8th minute of play forced Emerald's goalkeeper Nichifor Nicolae to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 13th minute, Gabriel Vermeşan hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. 16 minutes into the game, Jaime Carioca was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Emerald's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Mexico the free kick. After a rather tough play, Emerald's Jaime Carioca got a free kick in the 17th minute. Nichifor Nicolae showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Joel Gaona in the 20th minute of the match. Lautaro Mancebo sent away a hard shot on goal in the 21st minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. After 27 minutes, Grigore Stătescu mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Emerald and the Mexico players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 27th minute, Grigore Stătescu hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Luca Zorita sent away a hard shot on goal in the 28th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. A collision led to Mexico getting a freekick after 33 minutes play. Leonardo Leoz hit a great ball. Victor Piţurcă could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 34th minute of the match, but Dante Lacasa made a huge save. 35 minutes into the game, Mexico's Lautaro Mancebo nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Nichifor Nicolae made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-1. Lautaro Mancebo received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 41st minute. Nichifor Nicolae tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. An unexpectedly hard shot by Lautaro Mancebo in the 43rd minute of play forced Emerald's goalkeeper Nichifor Nicolae to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Alberto Tafalla blasted a shot towards the goal in the 47th minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Nichifor Nicolae having to make a save. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 0-1.

Emerald's Ioan Logofătu was substituted for Julio Iglesias. When the second half was about to start, both teams quickly lined up and Joel Gaona made a kick off. Alberto Tafalla could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 53rd minute of the match, but Nichifor Nicolae made a huge save. Dante Lacasa made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Victor Piţurcă in the 54th minute of play. A collision led to Emerald getting a freekick after 58 minutes play. 朱风俊 hit a great ball. Nichifor Nicolae showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Joel Gaona in the 60th minute of the match. An unexpected shot in the 61st minute by Lautaro Mancebo got the crowd on their feet, but to their dismay it went out on the left side. Gabriel Vermeşan fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 65th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Dante Lacasa having to interfere. Macos Graciani got a throw-in 70 minutes in the game and the ball was received by Joel Gaona. Emerald's Nichifor Nicolae proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 72nd minute of the match, managed to save Emerald from getting a goal against them. Lautaro Mancebo charged in rather forcefully in the 76th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Lautaro Mancebo the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. Victor Piţurcă sent away a hard shot on goal in the 78th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. After having played for 81 minutes, Alberto Tafalla managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Mexico's supporters crossed their fingers, but Alberto Tafalla was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Thanks to some nice moves Lautaro Mancebo could shoot a difficult shot in the 85th minute, which Nichifor Nicolae however easily saved by the left post. In the 90th minute, Joel Gaona 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. 93 minutes into the match, Alberto Tafalla dribbled the ball past the defender and swiftly kicked the ball to the left of Nichifor Nicolae, 1-2.