World League

Estádio Engenhão
Spectators: 7514 (Terracing: 5636, Seating: 1728, VIP seats: 150) The mood of the audience was pleasant when Abdellatif Benkhirane made the kick off which started today's match. Sebastião Salgado made a fantastic save in the 4th minute, when Atak Sehriyar sent off a good shot on target. In the 7th minute, Atak Sehriyar left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Alvinegro Carioca fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 1-0. In the 11th minute Nacer Khlifi shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but José Carlos Sanches saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After some fancy dribbling in the 15th minute, Abdellatif Benkhirane managed to get in a good position for a shot. Marrakech FC's supporters rose to their feet, but Abdellatif Benkhirane was a bit off balance and shot the ball just wide of the left post. José Carlos Sanches breathed a sigh of relief and went to take the goal kick. Nacer Khlifi received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 16th minute. José Carlos Sanches tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. An unexpectedly hard shot by Alessio Bolognesi in the 18th minute of play forced Alvinegro Carioca's goalkeeper José Carlos Sanches to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Atak Sehriyar's shot was meant for the net just under the crossbar, but Sebastião Salgado read the situation well and was quickly in position to make a wonderful save in the 19th minute of play. 20 minutes into the game, Atak Sehriyar recieved a splendid long ball, split the defenders, and gently placed the ball to the left of Sebastião Salgado. Atak Sehriyar showed that you don't have to tear a hole in the net to score, 2-0. In the 23rd minute the ball was on its way in behind Marrakech FC's goalkeeper Sebastião Salgado, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. Sebastião Salgado showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Baybars-Tolgahan Balta, who was totally free with the ball in the 30th minute. In the 31st minute, Alessio Bolognesi ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. José Carlos Sanches was frozen by the shot and now it was 2-2. José Carlos Sanches showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Nacer Khlifi in the 35th minute of the match. José Carlos Sanches made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Nacer Khlifi in the 36th minute of play. In the 38th match minute, Alvinegro Carioca was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Bernardinho Pirani to maneuver through the defense.

The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Bruno Africano was the one to do the kick off. 53 minutes into the game, Bruno Africano cracked a shot to the right of the goalkeeper, 3-2. Sebastião Salgado was not in position, and could only watch the ball fly in. Abdellatif Benkhirane fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 60th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without José Carlos Sanches having to interfere. The audience thought a goal was coming when Nacer Khlifi got free with José Carlos Sanches in the 62nd minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. Sebastião Salgado showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Atak Sehriyar, who was totally free with the ball in the 67th minute. In the 70th minute, Marrakech FC's Nacer Khlifi ran free of his marker and smoothly shot the ball into the goal behind José Carlos Sanches. José Carlos Sanches yelled at his defense, as they had left him out to dry. 3-3. An unexpectedly hard shot by Celsinho Diniz in the 74th minute of play forced Marrakech FC's goalkeeper Sebastião Salgado to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. In the 85th minute Abdellatif Benkhirane shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but José Carlos Sanches saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. After a rather tough play, Marrakech FC's Abdellatif Benkhirane got a free kick in the 86th minute. Alvinegro Carioca's José Carlos Sanches played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Alan Mota in the 88th minute of play. Celsinho Diniz's late challenge caught a Marrakech FC's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Celsinho Diniz helped the player get up and apologised. After a rather tough play, Alvinegro Carioca's Celsinho Diniz got a free kick in the 90th minute. Johnny Västerberg lost his temper 93 minutes into the game and shoved another player to the ground. He was immediately shown a red card. Jeers came from both ends of the stadium when the final whistle went. Neither team had looked impressive and the draw seeemd a fair result.