Challenge

Cristal Arena
Spectators: 43 (Terracing: 33, Seating: 10, VIP seats: 0) The sun was shining, the grass was green and the audience cheered when Greg Lequesne got the match started through his kick off. The supporters of AC Cristal booed when Venezuela was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 3 match minutes in a wonderful position. Jonathan Venegas didn't get a good kick on the ball. In the 5th minute, Greg Lequesne 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. The referee was alert and spotted a serious foul by Jose Correa during the 7th minute. The player immediately received a yellow card. After 7 played minutes Venezuela got a freekick which was hit by Jose Correa. AC Cristal's Jean-Marc Taillefer got a good chance for a goal in the 8th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Greg Lequesne was extremely unlucky when he, in the 11th minute, took a shot that hit the right post and went out. A collision led to AC Cristal getting a freekick after 14 minutes play. Roland Graziani hit a great ball. In the 14th minute of the match Tomas Illescas sent off a long shot with destination to the right of the goalkeeper, but Elias Bocage skillfully saved the ball. If Patricio Costa had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 16th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Jonathan Ferrant was in the perfect position, and the defense had done a good job marking him, but Greg Lequesne showcased his skills and made a perfect shot to score 1-0 in the 19 minute of play. Greg Lequesne did some fancy footwork in front of goal and succeeded to deceive the defenders so he could slam the ball in 2-0 to the left of a surprised Jonathan Ferrant 22 minutes into the match. After some careless play in the Venezuela defense, Jean-Marc Taillefer kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Jonathan Ferrant. The Venezuela fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Jonathan Ferrant should have stopped the shot. After having played for 38 minutes, Tomas Illescas managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Venezuela's supporters crossed their fingers, but Tomas Illescas was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. The audience thought a goal was coming when Jean-Marc Taillefer got free with Jonathan Ferrant in the 42nd minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. In a very dangerous position, a player in AC Cristal fell when an opponent tried to get the ball from him in the 47th minute. Penalty! After 48 minutes of play, Venezuela's Tomas Illescas made it 3-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Elias Bocage was left in no man's land by his defense there! The home fans were very happy to see their team leading 3-1 at half-time.

The wind increased when Tomas Illescas made the kick off in the second half. In the 57th minute, Tomas Illescas 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. Jonathan Ferrant came out of the goal in the 64th minute to try and stop a shot by AC Cristal's Greg Lequesne. But to his dismay, Greg Lequesne quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 4-1. In the 69th minute Greg Lequesne shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Jonathan Ferrant saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After some careless play in the AC Cristal defense, Tomas Illescas kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Elias Bocage. The AC Cristal fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Elias Bocage should have stopped the shot. After having played for 95 minutes, Tomas Illescas managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Venezuela's supporters crossed their fingers, but Tomas Illescas was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Jonathan Ferrant took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Jean-Marc Taillefer, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. There were very few away supporters still in the ground by the end of the match. Most of them had left early, disgusted by the way their team had been torn apart. AC Cristal fully deserved thier win.