Challenge

DIEGO MARADONA
Spectators: 40 (Terracing: 31, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) bicho colorado's Diego Rotondi started the match with a crisp pass. The crowd had been anticipating this game for weeks and the excitement in the stadium was easily visible. In the 5th minute the ball was on its way in behind bicho colorado's goalkeeper Adan Rafel, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Cristian Sancho in the 6th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Adan Rafel saved bicho colorado from getting behind. Daniel Zorita sent away a hard shot on goal in the 8th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Daniel Zorita's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Adan Rafel read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 10th minute of play. Felix Montenegro fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 24th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Adan Rafel having to interfere. Matías Caruso charged in rather forcefully in the 26th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Matías Caruso the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. The supporters of Ecuador booed when bicho colorado was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 26 match minutes in a wonderful position. Matías Caruso didn't get a good kick on the ball. Adan Rafel made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Juan Sebastián Puig in the 31st minute of play. Julio Vera stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Diego Rotondi's shot from short distance in the 34th minute. 37 minutes had been played when some careless play by bicho colorado's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Daniel Zorita was slow to take the kick. During this time Ecuador's players had a chance to rest. The corner ended in Daniel Zorita almost managing to get the ball behind the net, but bicho colorado's Adan Rafel did a great save. In the 42nd minute, Matías Caruso had to be helped off the field due to a pulled leg muscle. After 42 minutes, Luis Andino mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Ecuador and the bicho colorado players grew even worse after the yellow card. bicho colorado's Agustin Karmel was substituted for Matías Caruso. The score stood at 0-0 when the half time whistle went. Both sets of players seemed reasonably pleased with how the match was going.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Daniel Zorita to make the kick off. An unexpectedly hard shot by Diego Rotondi in the 51st minute of play forced Ecuador's goalkeeper Julio Vera to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 57 minutes into the match, Diego Rotondi had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Julio Vera. Ecuador's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Diego Rotondi was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 1-0. Julio Vera made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Epigonoi Kouches in the 60th minute of play. Adan Rafel made a fantastic save in the 63rd minute, when Felix Montenegro sent off a good shot on target. In the 64th minute of the match Ecuador got a corner. bicho colorado's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Daniel Zorita ran over to the corner to take the kick. A well done corner resulted in Daniel Zorita drilling the ball in to score 1-1 behind bicho colorado's goalkeeper. When Diego Rotondi came up free with the goalie in the 67th minute, the bicho colorado fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Diego Rotondi couldn't finish the play. The audience thought a goal was coming when Agustín Saelices got free with Adan Rafel in the 74th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. In the 77th minute, Daniel Zorita reached a very good position and smashed the ball with a huge effort into the net, just to the left of Adan Rafel. The goal made the score 1-2. Luis Andino might have been able to make a better finish in the 82nd minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Adan Rafel. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Luis Andino ran back to his position shaking his head. If Agustín Saelices had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 83rd minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Ecuador's Julio Vera played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Epigonoi Kouches in the 85th minute of play. After some careless play in the Ecuador defense, Celedonio Omero 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. The audience was convinced that Epigonoi Kouches'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. A collision led to Ecuador getting a freekick after 92 minutes play. Felix Montes hit a great ball. In the 93rd minute Epigonoi Kouches 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. bicho colorado's Epigonoi Kouches got a good chance for a goal in the 95th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar.