Challenge

RFK Stadium
Spectators: 45 (Terracing: 35, Seating: 10, VIP seats: 0) Dark clouds were building up when the players entered the field. None of the them looked very eager to play. Cassius Byrne started the match with the kick off. Cassius Byrne received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 2nd minute. Elpidio Vitin tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. The audience was convinced that Nicolas Roland's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Marco Day was relentless in the 4th minute of the game. 8 minutes into the match, Vélez Juniors's goal looked a bit too open when Monty Rogers came free, but Elpidio Vitin reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. An unexpectedly hard shot by Cristian Naike in the 12th minute of play forced USA's goalkeeper Marco Day to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Nicolas Roland scored 0-1 in the 15th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Marco Day, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. The supporters of Vélez Juniors booed when USA was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 17 match minutes in a wonderful position. Fabian Brown didn't get a good kick on the ball. Guido Luzaide was probably a little too eager to shoot when he, in the 18th played minute, shot the ball from way out. The shot was hard, but the ball flew wide of the goal. In the 19th minute, Cassius Byrne fired away a shot on goal. He put a little to much spin on the ball and sent it just wide of the right post. A sloppy throw-in by Diego Bradley in the 21st minute of the game went astray and was snapped up by Vélez Juniors's Guido Luzaide. Monty Rogers scored 1-1 in the 23rd match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Elpidio Vitin, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. Elpidio Vitin showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Cassius Byrne, who was totally free with the ball in the 27th minute. An unexpectedly hard shot by Cassius Byrne in the 30th minute of play forced Vélez Juniors's goalkeeper Elpidio Vitin to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Elpidio Vitin showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Monty Rogers, who was totally free with the ball in the 34th minute. Vélez Juniors's Elpidio Vitin played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Monty Rogers in the 36th minute of play. Elpidio Vitin took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Monty Rogers, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Marco Day showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Nicolas Roland in the 40th minute of the match. In the 41st minute, USA's Cassius Byrne ran free of his marker and smoothly shot the ball into the goal behind Elpidio Vitin. Elpidio Vitin yelled at his defense, as they had left him out to dry. 2-1. The away team players looked dejected as the walked off the pitch at half time. They had fought hard, but were still losing 2-1.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Nicolas Roland to make the kick off. Nicolas Roland's late challenge caught a USA's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Nicolas Roland helped the player get up and apologised. Elpidio Vitin made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Cassius Byrne in the 66th minute of play. USA made a substitution. Sam Campbell replaced Cassius Byrne. 70 minutes had been played when some careless play by Vélez Juniors's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Monty Rogers was slow to take the kick. During this time USA's players had a chance to rest. After taking down the ball on USA's corner Jenson Smith fired away a hard shot, but the defenders efficiently covered the most dangerous angles and Elpidio Vitin quite easily take care of the ball. Marco Day showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Cristian Naike, who was totally free with the ball in the 71st minute. The audience was convinced that Edward Mcdonald's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Elpidio Vitin was relentless in the 74th minute of the game. USA's Khalid Parry was substituted for Monty Rogers. Elpidio Vitin took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Khalid Parry, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. 2-2 became the score in the 86th minute when Nicolas Roland elegantly shot the ball into goal just under the crossbar. Elpidio Vitin showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Sam Campbell, who was totally free with the ball in the 89th minute. In the 91stth minute of the game Sam Campbell who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but Vélez Juniors's Elpidio Vitin was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. Vélez Juniors succeeded in salvaging a draw, even though USA had controlled the match.