Challenge

New York Arena
Spectators: 41 (Terracing: 32, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Cassius Byrne kicked off to start the match. A collision led to . SC Manhattan . getting a freekick after 2 minutes play. Pastor Pio hit a great ball. 5 minutes into the game, Lu Lin Kuan was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. . SC Manhattan .'s manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave USA the free kick. A collision led to . SC Manhattan . getting a freekick after 5 minutes play. Lu Lin Kuan hit a great ball. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Chico Valadares in the 10th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Marco Day saved USA from getting behind. After 11 minutes USA's defender was forced to head the ball over the line for a corner. It was Van Dijk who took care of the corner kick. When the match clock showed 21 minutes, the score became 0-1 when Cassius Byrne sped through . SC Manhattan .'s defense and sent away a curving shot that went into the net to the right of Mehmet Kerem. Marco Day made a fantastic save in the 24th minute, when Wilton Valladares sent off a good shot on target. USA's defense didn't have a chance, in the 24th minute, when Wilton Valladares scored to the left of an out of position Marco Day, making the score, 1-1. In the 27th minute Cassius Byrne shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Mehmet Kerem saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After 28 played minutes USA got a freekick which was hit by Diego Bradley. 29 minutes into the match, USA's goal looked a bit too open when Chico Valadares came free, but Marco Day reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. An unexpectedly hard shot by Monty Rogers in the 38th minute of play forced . SC Manhattan .'s goalkeeper Mehmet Kerem to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Mehmet Kerem showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Cassius Byrne, who was totally free with the ball in the 41st minute. Mehmet Kerem took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Edward Mcdonald, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. 44 minutes had been played when some careless play by . SC Manhattan .'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. After taking down the ball on USA's corner Cassius Byrne fired away a hard shot, but the defenders efficiently covered the most dangerous angles and Mehmet Kerem quite easily take care of the ball. The away team players looked dejected as the walked off the pitch at half time. They had fought hard, but were still losing 2-1.

The hometeam waved at the audience when it was time for Wilton Valladares to strike the kick off in the second half. After 54 minutes of play, . SC Manhattan .'s Chico Valadares made it 3-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Marco Day was left in no man's land by his defense there! Cassius Byrnes short, quick shot in the 69thth minute got Mehmet Kerem to make great effort and bar the ball away from getting in. Mehmet Kerem made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Cassius Byrne in the 74th minute of play. USA made a substitution. Khalid Parry replaced Monty Rogers. USA's Marco Baker was substituted for Edward Mcdonald. A sloppy throw-in by Jenson Smith in the 81st minute of the game went astray and was snapped up by . SC Manhattan .'s Markus Münch. Khalid Parry could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 83rd minute of the match, but Mehmet Kerem made a huge save. Mehmet Kerem made an important save on a dangerous shot by Sam Campbell in the 87th minute. 87 minutes into the match, . SC Manhattan .'s goalkeeper Mehmet Kerem had to clear away a ball on his right side after a cunning shot by Sam Campbell. Khalid Parry's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Mehmet Kerem read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 91st minute of play. The supporters of USA booed when . SC Manhattan . was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 94 match minutes in a wonderful position. Washington Netto didn't get a good kick on the ball. The . SC Manhattan . players were eager to celebrate when the final whistle sounded. They had somehow managed to win, even though the away team had held the majority of the possession.