Challenge

RFK Stadium
Spectators: 49 (Terracing: 38, Seating: 11, VIP seats: 0) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Alexander Bottone made the kick off which started today's match. Alvaro Rotili showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Edward Mcdonald, who was totally free with the ball in the 5th minute. Alvaro Rotili showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Cassius Byrne in the 8th minute of the match. A collision led to A.S. Udinese getting a freekick after 12 minutes play. Olivér Bierhoff hit a great ball. Alvaro Rotili took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Edward Mcdonald, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. An unexpectedly hard shot by Edward Mcdonald in the 18th minute of play forced A.S. Udinese's goalkeeper Alvaro Rotili to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. The supporters of USA booed when A.S. Udinese was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 27 match minutes in a wonderful position. Corrado Falasca didn't get a good kick on the ball. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Cassius Byrne in the 28th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Alvaro Rotili saved A.S. Udinese from getting behind. 31 minutes into the match, Alexander Bottone notched a goal, 0-1, to the right of USA's Marco Day. Marco Day was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. An unexpectedly hard shot by Alberigo Di Franco in the 36th minute of play forced USA's goalkeeper Marco Day to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. After some careless play in the USA defense, Alberigo Di Franco kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Marco Day. The USA fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Marco Day should have stopped the shot. Alvaro Rotili took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Cassius Byrne, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Alvaro Rotili stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Monty Rogers's shot from short distance in the 43rd minute. Monty Rogers received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 45th minute. Alvaro Rotili tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 0-2.

Monty Rogers's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Alvaro Rotili read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 51st minute of play. A.S. Udinese's attacker deliberately struck the ball against an opponent to win a corner for his team. The corner was taken by Cristiano Paolucci in the 55th minute. A nice corner shot did that Cristiano Paolucci got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Marco Day quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. An unexpectedly hard shot by Cassius Byrne in the 57th minute of play forced A.S. Udinese's goalkeeper Alvaro Rotili to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Alvaro Rotili didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Cassius Byrne went, in the 63rd minute, to the upper right corner, 1-2 was the resulting score. After some careless play in the A.S. Udinese defense, Edward Mcdonald kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Alvaro Rotili. The A.S. Udinese fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Alvaro Rotili should have stopped the shot. USA's Khalid Parry was substituted for Monty Rogers. Bruno Maranzano made in the 81st minute of the game a throw-in that took a bad bounce and was taken care of by USA's Jacob May. Alvaro Rotili showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Khalid Parry, who was totally free with the ball in the 84th minute. In the 86th minute the ball was on its way in behind USA's goalkeeper Marco Day, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. In the 92nd minute Sam Campbell shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Alvaro Rotili saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Marco Day made a fantastic save in the 95th minute, when Ercole Fiorentino sent off a good shot on target.