Challenge

RFK Stadium
Spectators: 49 (Terracing: 38, Seating: 11, VIP seats: 0) The field was rather wet after several days of rain when Cassius Byrne took the kick off in the first half of the match. Fredric Hybbert might have been able to make a better finish in the 2nd minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Marco Day. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Fredric Hybbert ran back to his position shaking his head. USA's Marco Day played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Fredric Hybbert in the 2nd minute of play. 4 minutes into the match, FC Kurdistan's goalkeeper Alaaddin Solskjær had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Monty Rogers. 7 minutes into the match, USA's goal looked a bit too open when Lars Sundström came free, but Marco Day reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. In the 12th minute Yin Yun Fan shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Marco Day saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Lars Sundström fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 13th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Marco Day having to interfere. Yin Yun Fan might have been able to make a better finish in the 15th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Marco Day. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Yin Yun Fan ran back to his position shaking his head. After some fancy dribbling in the 28th minute, Cassius Byrne managed to get in a good position for a shot. USA's supporters rose to their feet, but Cassius Byrne was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Alaaddin Solskjær breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. 34 minutes had been played when some careless play by USA's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Keefer Carragher was slow to take the kick. During this time FC Kurdistan's players had a chance to rest. A nice corner shot did that Lars Sundström got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Marco Day quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. When Monty Rogers came up free with the goalie in the 46th minute, the USA 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 Monty Rogers couldn't finish the play.

Fredric Hybbert's shot straight on target was not completely harmless. The ball had pretty good speed, but Marco Day firmly grabbed it by the left post. If Fredric Hybbert had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 56th minute. The ball went over the crossbar instead. After some fancy dribbling in the 59th minute, Iwan Kasiewski managed to get in a good position for a shot. FC Kurdistan's supporters rose to their feet, but Iwan Kasiewski was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Marco Day breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. FC Kurdistan's Elliot Nordgren was substituted for Lars Sundström. USA's Marco Day played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Iwan Kasiewski in the 63rd minute of play. Iwan Kasiewski fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 66th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Marco Day having to interfere. USA's Sam Campbell was substituted for Cassius Byrne. Jenson Smith hit a great freekick 68 minutes into the match. Iwan Kasiewski sent away a hard shot on goal in the 71st minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Marco Day took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Elliot Nordgren, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 76thth minute of the game Sam Campbell who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but FC Kurdistan's Alaaddin Solskjær was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. An unexpectedly hard shot by Elliot Nordgren in the 80th minute of play forced USA's goalkeeper Marco Day to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Alaaddin Solskjær stood for a superb save when he managed to get hold of Edward Mcdonald's shot from short distance in the 82nd minute. After 84 minutes, Elliot Nordgren made it 0-1 with a short kick to the right side. USA's Marco Day tried to save the shot but he was too slow in reacting to the shot. USA made a substitution. Khalid Parry replaced Monty Rogers. After some fancy dribbling in the 90th minute, Marco Baker managed to get in a good position for a shot. USA's supporters rose to their feet, but Marco Baker was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. Alaaddin Solskjær breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. With a little luck, USA's Marco Day got control of the ball when Jörgen Levander tried to sneak it across the goal line. The crowd rose to their feet as Jörgen Levander kicked a wonderful shot that went in to the left of a diving Marco Day. That made the score 0-2 in the 92 minute of play. The FC Kurdistan players were relieved to hear the final whistle blow to end the match. The away crowd was happy to see their team win after a very tight game.