Challenge

Lauton Park
Spectators: 42 (Terracing: 32, 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. Tomas Illescas started the match with the kick off. After some careless play in the Venezuela defense, Nacho Barbutski 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 some careless play in the Loko Plovdiv defense, Tomas Illescas kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Vladimir Tomanov. The Loko Plovdiv fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Vladimir Tomanov should have stopped the shot. In the 16th minute, Emanuel Cluceru hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Nacho Barbutski sent away a hard shot on goal in the 19th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 23rd 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. In the 24th minute, Jose Correa hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Venezuela's Jonathan Ferrant played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Nacho Barbutski in the 29th minute of play. When Rigoberto Mina fell near the penalty area in the 31st minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Venezuela's protests and gave Rigoberto Mina a yellow card for diving instead. The supporters of Loko Plovdiv booed when Venezuela was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 31 match minutes in a wonderful position. Rigoberto Mina didn't get a good kick on the ball. In the 32nd minute, Nacho Barbutski sent off a long shot on goal, but the shot was nowhere near the goal and Venezuela's Jonathan Ferrant didn't even have to move. After 33 played minutes Venezuela got a freekick which was hit by Guillermo Mariano. 36 minutes into the match, Loko Plovdiv's Nacho Barbutski sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Jonathan Ferrant narrowly saved just below the crossbar. Tomas Illescas sent away a hard shot on goal in the 37th minute, but the ball hit the crossbar and went out. A very good chance for a goal. Vladimir Tomanov made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Tomas Illescas in the 37th minute of play. Vladimir Tomanov showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Tomas Illescas in the 41st minute of the match. After fighting hard for a draw in the first half, the players were able to take a much needed rest.

The wind increased when Nacho Barbutski made the kick off in the second half. Patricio Costa sent away a hard shot on goal in the 53rd minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Loko Plovdiv's Dencho Yashev was substituted for Genadi Ahmakov. Loko Plovdiv's Stancho Vunov was substituted for Vencho Zlatarev. The throw-in from Ilcho Argirov in the 65th minute of the game was unfortunally taken care of by Venezuela's Jose Correa. Jonathan Ferrant came out of the goal in the 70th minute to try and stop a shot by Loko Plovdiv's Nacho Barbutski. But to his dismay, Nacho Barbutski quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 2-1. Nacho Barbutski scored 3-1 in the 75th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Jonathan Ferrant, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. 78 minutes into the match, Venezuela's Tomas Illescas sent off a blazing shot straight on target, a shot that Vladimir Tomanov narrowly saved just below the crossbar. In the 79th minute, Tomas Illescas reached a very good position and smashed the ball with a huge effort into the net, just to the left of Vladimir Tomanov. The goal made the score 3-2. After having played for 86 minutes, Joshua Secada managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Venezuela's supporters crossed their fingers, but Joshua Secada 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 Nacho Barbutski, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Nacho Barbutski might have been able to make a better finish in the 90th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Jonathan Ferrant. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Nacho Barbutski ran back to his position shaking his head. 92 minutes into the match, Venezuela's goal looked a bit too open when Nacho Barbutski came free, but Jonathan Ferrant reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. In the 93rd minute Nacho Barbutski 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. If Tomas Illescas had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 95th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Loko Plovdiv's supporters were delighted with their team's performance and swarmed onto the pitch at the end of the match to celebrate the victory with the players.