Challenge

Platanos Stadium
Spectators: 44 (Terracing: 34, Seating: 10, VIP seats: 0) Costa Rica's Axel Tasis 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. After a rather tough play, Costa Rica's Efrain Moruga got a free kick in the 5th minute. When Kostas Leonidis came up free with the goalie in the 7th minute, the BPS F.C. 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 Kostas Leonidis couldn't finish the play. Alekos Argyrakis hit a great freekick 8 minutes into the match. After a rather tough play, Costa Rica's Axel Tasis got a free kick in the 10th minute. 13 minutes into the match, Costa Rica's goalkeeper Benito Sanz had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Kostas Romanakoglou. After a rather tough play, BPS F.C.'s Alekos Argyrakis got a free kick in the 17th minute. Manos Makris took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Axel Tasis, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Benito Sanz showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Thomas Tsolakopoulos in the 22nd minute of the match. In the 23rd minute BPS F.C. were awarded a corner. Stratos Goumas went to the cornerflag to take it. Stratos Goumas made a great header on BPS F.C.'s corner, it was just that Costa Rica's Benito Sanz managed to reach the ball for a save. An unexpectedly hard shot by Eliseo Noboa in the 26th minute of play forced BPS F.C.'s goalkeeper Manos Makris to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. After 28 minutes, Thomas Tsolakopoulos mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the BPS F.C. and the Costa Rica players grew even worse after the yellow card. Thomas Tsolakopoulos kicked well hit freekick during the 29th minute of the match. 30 minutes into the game, Kostas Leonidis cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 1-0. Benito Sanz was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Eliseo Noboa received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 35th minute. Manos Makris tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. The audience thought a goal was coming when Kostas Romanakoglou got free with Benito Sanz in the 39th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. In the 40th match minute, Costa Rica was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Alan Moruga to maneuver through the defense. Efrain Moruga charged in rather forcefully in the 44th minute of the match, and managed to knock his opponent down. The referee showed Efrain Moruga the yellow card, and asked the players to shake hands before continuing play. In the 44th minute, Efrain Moruga hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field.

Both teams looked relatively alert before the second half when the referee blew his whistle to tell Kostas Leonidis to make the kick off. When Juan Rubio fell near the penalty area in the 53rd minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored Costa Rica's protests and gave Juan Rubio a yellow card for diving instead. In the 53rd minute, Juan Rubio hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. Kostas Leonidis recieved an excellent pass in front of the goal in the 58th minute. Unfortunately, he received the ball on his off foot and could only manage a weak shot that went over the goal. Thomas Tsolakopoulos fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 61st minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Benito Sanz having to interfere. Aaron Alcocer hit a great freekick 65 minutes into the match. The supporters of Costa Rica booed when BPS F.C. was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 67 match minutes in a wonderful position. Vlassis Karantonis didn't get a good kick on the ball. Eliseo Noboa hit a great freekick 68 minutes into the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by Kostas Leonidis in the 76th minute of play forced Costa Rica's goalkeeper Benito Sanz to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. When Efrain Moruga was, once again, overly rough in his play he received his second yellow card and was ordered off the ground. 80 minutes had been played. After 81 played minutes Costa Rica got a freekick which was hit by Efrain Moruga. After a rather tough play, Costa Rica's Aaron Alcocer got a free kick in the 84th minute. After a defensive mix-up in BPS F.C.'s zone, Aaron Alcocer stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Manos Makris came out of the goal and Aaron Alcocer tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. Eliseo Noboa hit a great freekick 91 minutes into the match. BPS F.C.'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.