Challenge

Estadio Nacional
Spectators: 45 (Terracing: 35, 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. Benito Sanz showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Rafael Nisio, who was totally free with the ball in the 3rd minute. Rafael Nisio sent away a hard shot on goal in the 5th minute, but the ball hit the crossbar and went out. A very good chance for a goal. In the 5th minute Rafael Nisio shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Benito Sanz saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 8th minute, Rafael Nisio ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Benito Sanz was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-1. 11 minutes into the game, Pendex's Ryan Keuppens nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Benito Sanz made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-2. After 17 minutes of play, Pendex's Rafael Nisio made it 0-3 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Benito Sanz was left in no man's land by his defense there! Costa Rica's Benito Sanz played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Rafael Nisio in the 21st minute of play. A collision led to Costa Rica getting a freekick after 22 minutes play. Hugo Ferrant hit a great ball. Rafael Nisio received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 24th minute. Benito Sanz tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. A throw-in in the 29th minute of the game was made by Eliseo Noboa with Efrain Moruga as target, who quickly passed the ball forward. In the 29th match minute, Costa Rica was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Hugo Ferrant to maneuver through the defense. Benito Sanz came out of the goal in the 34th minute to try and stop a shot by Pendex's Rafael Nisio. But to his dismay, Rafael Nisio quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 0-4. Rafael Nisio sent away a hard shot on goal in the 36th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. An unexpectedly hard shot by Rafael Nisio in the 39th minute of play forced Costa Rica's goalkeeper Benito Sanz to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. A collision led to Costa Rica getting a freekick after 45 minutes play. Lautaro Puig hit a great ball. When Rafael Nisio came up free with the goalie in the 46th minute, the Pendex 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 Rafael Nisio couldn't finish the play. Rafael Nisio might have been able to make a better finish in the 48th minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Benito Sanz. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Rafael Nisio ran back to his position shaking his head. Benito Sanz took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Rafael Nisio, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 0-4 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

When the second half was about to start, both teams quickly lined up and Rafael Nisio made a kick off. Rafael Nisios short, quick shot in the 54thth minute got Benito Sanz to make great effort and bar the ball away from getting in. 57 minutes into the game, Hugo Ferrant threw the ball into play from the sideline. Pendex's You Ting quickly snatched the ball and retained possesion. 58 minutes into the match, Rafael Nisio notched a goal, 0-5, to the right of Costa Rica's Benito Sanz. Benito Sanz was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. Pendex's Nelson de Brito managed, thanks to a brazen rush, stole the ball on a throw-in made by Hugo Ferrant in the 61 minute of the game. With a little luck, Costa Rica's Benito Sanz got control of the ball when Rafael Nisio tried to sneak it across the goal line. Rafael Nisio did some fancy footwork in front of goal and succeeded to deceive the defenders so he could slam the ball in 0-7 to the left of a surprised Benito Sanz 66 minutes into the match. Pendex's Nemesio Isusko was substituted for Ryan Keuppens. Pendex's Saul Bembe was substituted for Rafael Nisio. 70 minutes into the match, Costa Rica's goal looked a bit too open when Saul Bembe came free, but Benito Sanz reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. The audience was convinced that Nemesio Isusko's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Benito Sanz was relentless in the 72nd minute of the game. When the match had gone on for 73 minutes, Antonio Inguma took a quick shot and it went in 0-8 without a chance for Benito Sanz to make any attempt to save it. Benito Sanz made an important save on a dangerous shot by Nemesio Isusko in the 78th minute. After some careless play in the Costa Rica defense, Nemesio Isusko kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Benito Sanz. The Costa Rica fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Benito Sanz should have stopped the shot. When the match had gone on for 84 minutes, Saul Bembe put it in 0-11 from a short distance just to the right of Benito Sanz. Nemesio Isusko came free with the goalkeeper in the 90th minute of the match, and shot straight on target. The shot was a little too simple and Benito Sanz could save by the left post. With his leg Benito Sanz managed to avoid a goal in the 91stth minute, when Pendex's Nemesio Isusko fired away a shot with a lot of spin towards his right hand side. Benito Sanz made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Antonio Inguma in the 92nd minute of play. Costa Rica's Benito Sanz played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Saul Bembe in the 96th minute of play.