Challenge

MARLIN ARENA PASTEUR
Spectators: 43 (Terracing: 33, 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. Linus Fredriksson started the match with the kick off. Julio Vera made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Fermin Arixo in the 7th minute of play. Julio Vera made a fantastic save in the 12th minute, when Yin Yang sent off a good shot on target. Yin Yang received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 18th minute. Julio Vera tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 20th match minute, Marlin FC was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Ismael Iglesias to maneuver through the defense. Julio Vera showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Linus Fredriksson in the 23rd minute of the match. In the 24th minute, Luis Andino hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Juan Carlos Alvarez made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Cristian Sancho in the 26th minute of play. Marlin FC's Juan Carlos Alvarez played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Cristian Sancho in the 34th minute of play. In the 35th minute Agustín Saelices shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Juan Carlos Alvarez saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 37 minutes into the match, Ecuador's goal looked a bit too open when Aybek Orcun came free, but Julio Vera reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Linus Fredriksson might have been able to make a better finish in the 38th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Julio Vera. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Linus Fredriksson ran back to his position shaking his head. Juan Carlos Alvarez came out of the goal in the 40th minute to try and stop a shot by Ecuador's Cristian Sancho. But to his dismay, Cristian Sancho quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 1-1. Cristian Sancho scored 1-2 in the 44th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Juan Carlos Alvarez, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. Disappointed in the 1-2 score, the home team went to the dressing room to adjust tactics for the second half.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Daniel Zorita stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. In the 54th match minute, Ecuador was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Cristian Sancho to maneuver through the defense. The crowd rose to their feet as Ecuador's Daniel Zorita slotted home a wonderful shot that went in to the left of Juan Carlos Alvarez. That made the score 1-3 after 62 minutes of play. Marlin FC made a substitution. Melchor Oidor replaced Ismael Iglesias. 71 minutes into the match, Marlin FC's goalkeeper Juan Carlos Alvarez had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Daniel Zorita. In the 78th match minute, Marlin FC was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Fermin Arixo to maneuver through the defense. In the 79th minute, Fermin Arixo hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Giovanni Rana sent away a hard shot on goal in the 85th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. The audience was convinced that Linus Fredriksson's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Julio Vera was relentless in the 90th minute of the game. Reynaldo Duarte kicked well hit freekick during the 96th minute of the match. The Marlin FC fans had already started to leave before the final whistle blew. Ecuador were clearly better and deserved to take the win.