Challenge

RFK Stadium
Spectators: 45 (Terracing: 35, 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. Doctor Strange started the match with the kick off. USA's Marco Day played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Doctor Strange in the 3rd minute of play. Dong Yang Bang made a great header on Sport Clube Recife's corner, it was just that USA's Marco Day managed to reach the ball for a save. Cassius Byrne had several of the Sport Clube Recife's defenders around him in the penalty area when he, after 8 minutes of play, received a pass and succeeded in some way to shoot a shot which went straight ahead into goal. This resulted in a 1-0 score and a disappointed Percy Fernandez as he didn't even see the shot coming. Cassius Byrne sent away a hard shot on goal in the 10th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. 13 minutes had been played when some careless play by Sport Clube Recife's defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Cassius Byrne was slow to take the kick. During this time USA's players had a chance to rest. The corner ended in Cassius Byrne almost managing to get the ball behind the net, but Sport Clube Recife's Percy Fernandez did a great save. In the 15th minute of the match USA got a corner. Sport Clube Recife's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. Cassius Byrne ran over to the corner to take the kick. A well-hit corner resulted in Edward Mcdonald heading the ball towards the goal, but to his dismay he misdirected it and missed the goal completely. Thanks to some nice moves Cassius Byrne could shoot a difficult shot in the 19th minute, which Percy Fernandez however easily saved by the left post. In the 20th minute USA were awarded a corner. Cassius Byrne went to the cornerflag to take it. Marco Day showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Doctor Strange, who was totally free with the ball in the 21st minute. Marco Day showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Doctor Strange, who was totally free with the ball in the 21st minute. Cassius Byrne could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 26th minute of the match, but Percy Fernandez made a huge save. When Gualter Penha came up free with the goalie in the 31st minute, the Sport Clube Recife 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 Gualter Penha couldn't finish the play. USA's Marco Day played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Pablo Lampard in the 33rd minute of play. 41 minutes into the match, Cassius Byrne had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Percy Fernandez. Sport Clube Recife's manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Cassius Byrne was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 2-0. In the 44th match minute, USA was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Monty Rogers to maneuver through the defense. An unexpectedly hard shot by Dong Yang Bang in the 47th minute of play forced USA's goalkeeper Marco Day to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. When the referee blew for the end of the half the home team players were clearly happier, as they went in to the break leading 2-0.

The wind increased when Cassius Byrne made the kick off in the second half. In the 50th minute Cassius Byrne shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Percy Fernandez saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After a rather tough play, Sport Clube Recife's Reginaldo Brodel got a free kick in the 51st minute. When the match clock showed 52 minutes, the score became 3-0 when Cassius Byrne sped through Sport Clube Recife's defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Percy Fernandez. Marco Day showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Gualter Penha in the 55th minute of the match. Monty Rogers sent away a hard shot on goal in the 61st minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. Marco Day came out of the goal in the 65th minute to try and stop a shot by Sport Clube Recife's Gualter Penha. But to his dismay, Gualter Penha quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 3-1. Sport Clube Recife's Knut Söderström quite brazenly broke a throw-in by Diego Bradley, made in the 72nd minute of the game. If Gualter Penha had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 72nd minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Gualter Penha received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 75th minute. Marco Day tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Percy Fernandez took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Sam Campbell, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Sport Clube Recife's Percy Fernandez played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Sam Campbell in the 81st minute of play. Percy Fernandez made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Khalid Parry in the 84th minute of play. Percy Fernandez 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 88th minute. In the 89th minute, Sport Clube Recife's Gualter Penha ran free of his marker and smoothly shot the ball into the goal behind Marco Day. Marco Day yelled at his defense, as they had left him out to dry. 3-2. Delfim Leite could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 93rd minute of the match, but Marco Day made a huge save. The audience was convinced that Sam Campbell's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Percy Fernandez was relentless in the 95th minute of the game. USA's fans were exulted and cheered after their team won in a match that could easily have gone the other way.