League

São Januário
Spectators: 5000 (Terracing: 4000, Seating: 1000, VIP seats: 0) The field was rather wet after several days of rain when Tiaguinho Couto took the kick off in the first half of the match. Vasco Da Gama's João Francisco Dias got a good chance for a goal in the 3rd minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Elano Queiroz sent away a hard shot on goal in the 6th minute, but the ball went just over the crossbar and out. A very good chance. In the 8th minute Edgard Marinho shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Manoel Pirani saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. In the 16th match minute, Tricolor Fc was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Tiaguinho Couto to maneuver through the defense. A collision led to Tricolor Fc getting a freekick after 18 minutes play. Fernandinho Teles hit a great ball. Vasco Da Gama's Didi de Lima managed, thanks to a brazen rush, stole the ball on a throw-in made by Victor Proença in the 20 minute of the game. Manoel Pirani showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Didi de Lima, who was totally free with the ball in the 20th minute. 21 minutes into the game, Renan Valle was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Tricolor Fc's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Vasco Da Gama the free kick. Renan Valle kicked well hit freekick during the 21st minute of the match. The audience was convinced that Tiaguinho Couto's extremely hard shot when he got free in front of the goal was going in, but Valdir Braga was relentless in the 31st minute of the game. A collision led to Tricolor Fc getting a freekick after 33 minutes play. Jaime Bastos hit a great ball. With a little luck, Tricolor Fc's Manoel Pirani got control of the ball when Edgard Marinho tried to sneak it across the goal line. After 39 minutes of play, Vasco Da Gama's João Francisco Dias made it 2-1 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Manoel Pirani was left in no man's land by his defense there! Manoel Pirani was a little too slow when Edgard Marinho got a fine hit on the ball which went right into the goal in the 43rd minute. The score was now 3-1. No-one was surprised that the home team were leading 3-1 at half-time.

The players of the away team seemed most concentrated when Edgard Marinho stepped up to make the kick off in the second half. Manoel Pirani showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Elano Queiroz in the 56th minute of the match. If João Francisco Dias had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 58th minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. Thanks to some nice foot action and superb ball handling Edgard Marinho in the 67th minute a chance for a shot on goal. With an extended leg and a bit of luck Manoel Pirani prevented the ball from getting in the gole. In the 71st minute, Elano Queiroz ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Manoel Pirani was frozen by the shot and now it was 4-1. Nildo de Mendonça kicked well hit freekick during the 73rd minute of the match. Tiaguinho Couto fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 75th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Valdir Braga having to interfere. In the 77th minute, Edgard Marinho left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Vasco Da Gama fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 5-1. After having played for 84 minutes, João Francisco Dias managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Vasco Da Gama's supporters crossed their fingers, but João Francisco Dias was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Didi de Lima hit a great freekick 85 minutes into the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by João Francisco Dias in the 87th minute of play forced Tricolor Fc's goalkeeper Manoel Pirani to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Manoel Pirani took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Didi de Lima, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. José Maria Freire lost his temper 91 minutes into the game and shoved another player to the ground. He was immediately shown a red card. In the 92nd minute there was a penalty for Vasco Da Gama. Edgard Marinho stepped forward and shot the ball to the right of a diving Manoel Pirani. 6-1. There were very few away supporters still in the ground by the end of the match. Most of them had left early, disgusted by the way their team had been torn apart. Vasco Da Gama fully deserved thier win.