Challenge

Feliciano Gambarte
Spectators: 50 (Terracing: 38, Seating: 11, VIP seats: 1) The field was rather wet after several days of rain when Joel Gaona took the kick off in the first half of the match. In the 3rd minute, Alberto Tafalla got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. Dante Lacasa made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Mikhail Horoshevskiy in the 7th minute of play. An unexpected shot in the 8th minute by Edu de Sousa got the crowd on their feet, but to their dismay it went out on the left side. Elia Di Ianni showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Lautaro Mancebo in the 16th minute of the match. 17 minutes into the game, Ilie Negrescu was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. El Expreso's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Mexico the free kick. After 17 minutes of play, the referee blew the whistle. It was a penalty for El Expreso! Dante Lacasa made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Scott Bradbury in the 24th minute of play. 27 minutes into the game, Joel Gaona cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 0-2. Elia Di Ianni was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. An unexpectedly hard shot by Alberto Tafalla in the 30th minute of play forced El Expreso's goalkeeper Elia Di Ianni to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Mexico were awarded a corner in the 34th minute after El Expreso's defender lost control of the ball, allowing it to roll out over the line. Joel Gaona took the corner. After 36 minutes of play, El Expreso's Mikhail Horoshevskiy made it 1-2 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Dante Lacasa was left in no man's land by his defense there! Alberto Tafalla fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 39th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Elia Di Ianni having to interfere. Dante Lacasa took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Scott Bradbury, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 45th minute, Zhu Quan made a precise shot to the right of Dante Lacasa. Mexico's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 2-2. The first half was very even, with the score at 2-2 when the whistle went for half-time. The players welcomed the break and quickly retired to the dressing rooms.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Scott Bradbury stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. Dante Lacasa took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Scott Bradbury, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. The audience was convinced that Mikhail Horoshevskiy's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Dante Lacasa was relentless in the 55th minute of the game. In the 57th minute, Felix Luque hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. El Expreso's Scott Bradbury got a good chance for a goal in the 57th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. The audience was convinced that Joel Gaona's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Elia Di Ianni was relentless in the 62nd minute of the game. After 63 minutes of play, El Expreso's Edu de Sousa made it 3-2 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Dante Lacasa was left in no man's land by his defense there! In the 75th minute, Cosimo Haye de la hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. An unexpectedly hard shot by Scott Bradbury in the 79th minute of play forced Mexico's goalkeeper Dante Lacasa to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. If Lautaro Mancebo had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 81st minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Mexico's Dante Lacasa played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Mikhail Horoshevskiy in the 84th minute of play. Luca Zorita struck a weak shot in the 89th minute. Elia Di Ianni didn't even have to move as the ball rolled over the line well wide of the goal. A wasted opportunity for Mexico. After some careless play in the Mexico defense, Mikhail Horoshevskiy kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Dante Lacasa. The Mexico fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Dante Lacasa should have stopped the shot.