Challenge

Old Trafford
Spectators: 50 (Terracing: 38, Seating: 11, VIP seats: 1) Edwin van der Sar showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Cristian Sancho in the 4th minute of the match. Edwin van der Sar made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Daniel Zorita in the 6th minute of play. In the 8th match minute, Manchester United FC was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Alfred Laulaja to maneuver through the defense. In the 12th minute Daniel Zorita shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Edwin van der Sar saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Cristian Sancho blasted a shot towards the goal in the 14th minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Edwin van der Sar having to make a save. Ecuador's Daniel Zorita got a good chance for a goal in the 19th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. After a rather tough play, Manchester United FC's Alfred Laulaja got a free kick in the 21st minute. 29 minutes had been played when some careless play by Ecuador's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Eero Uusipaavalniemi was slow to take the kick. During this time Manchester United FC's players had a chance to rest. Ecuador were awarded a corner in the 41th minute after Manchester United FC's defender lost control of the ball, allowing it to roll out over the line. Daniel Zorita took the corner. The corner went over the outstretched arms of Manchester United FC's goalie and right to Felix Montenegro. He fired away a shot at goal, but the shot had too much spin, and it went just outside the goal. Manchester United FC's manager breathed a sigh of relief on the sidelines as his team had managed to escape an almost certain goal. Cristian Sancho fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 45th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Edwin van der Sar having to interfere. In the 46th minute Cristian Sancho shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Edwin van der Sar saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 48th minute Valdemar Kuoppala shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Julio Vera saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Daniel Zorita stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. Julio Vera took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Valdemar Kuoppala, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Manchester United FC's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Eero Uusipaavalniemi in the 55th minute. A nice corner shot did that Eero Uusipaavalniemi got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Julio Vera quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. Eero Uusipaavalniemi fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 60th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Julio Vera having to interfere. Manchester United FC's Edwin van der Sar proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 61st minute of the match, managed to save Manchester United FC from getting a goal against them. After having played for 64 minutes, Valdemar Kuoppala managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Manchester United FC's supporters crossed their fingers, but Valdemar Kuoppala was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. The crowd rose to their feet as Ecuador's Agustín Saelices slotted home a wonderful shot that went in to the left of Edwin van der Sar. That made the score 1-1 after 67 minutes of play. After some careless play in the Ecuador defense, Taisto Pentsinen kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Julio Vera. The Ecuador fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Julio Vera should have stopped the shot. Daniel Zorita's shot straight on target was not completely harmless. The ball had pretty good speed, but Edwin van der Sar firmly grabbed it by the left post. The audience was convinced that Valdemar Kuoppala's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Julio Vera was relentless in the 86th minute of the game. In the 94th minute, Felix Montenegro made a precise shot to the right of Edwin van der Sar. Manchester United FC's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 2-3.