World League

Arena Denver
Spectators: 7533 (Terracing: 5651, Seating: 1732, VIP seats: 150) The sun was shining, the grass was green and the audience cheered when Guilherme Abud got the match started through his kick off. 6 minutes into the match, Feliciano Mercurio notched a goal, 0-1, to the right of DENVER™'s Toninho Pinheiro. Toninho Pinheiro was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. After a defensive mix-up in DENVER™'s zone, Acácio Nogueira stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Toninho Pinheiro came out of the goal and Acácio Nogueira tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. With a couple of smart ball manuevers Acácio Nogueira in the 10th managed to get into a good position. With a left leg Toninho Pinheiro saved DENVER™ from getting behind. In the 12th minute, DENVER™'s Denver Volante seemed to kick out at an opponent. The referee saw this and, surprisingly, showed Denver Volante the red card, dismissing him from the pitch. The coaching staff of DENVER™ protested bitterly, but the referee would have none of it, and Denver Volante had no choice but to slowly walk off the pitch. Denver Volante hit a great freekick 12 minutes into the match. In the 13th minute Arif Cengiz Sökmensu shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Toninho Pinheiro saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. An unexpectedly hard shot by Acácio Nogueira in the 15th minute of play forced DENVER™'s goalkeeper Toninho Pinheiro to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. After 17 minutes of play, AC Batán's Feliciano Mercurio made it 0-2 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Toninho Pinheiro was left in no man's land by his defense there! 23 minutes into the match, DENVER™'s goal looked a bit too open when Feliciano Mercurio came free, but Toninho Pinheiro reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. 23 minutes into the game, AC Batán's Feliciano Mercurio nearly tore a hole in the net with a booming shot. Toninho Pinheiro made a valiant effort, but he could not reach the ball in time, 0-3. After some careless play in the DENVER™ defense, Feliciano Mercurio kicked a shot that curved into the net to the right of Toninho Pinheiro. The DENVER™ fans voiced their displeasure as they felt that Toninho Pinheiro should have stopped the shot. 29 minutes into the match, DENVER™'s goal looked a bit too open when Feliciano Mercurio came free, but Toninho Pinheiro reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. Toninho Pinheiro showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Feliciano Mercurio, who was totally free with the ball in the 30th minute. In the 32nd minute Cristoforo Di Ruscio shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Toninho Pinheiro saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 35 minutes into the match, Feliciano Mercurio had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Toninho Pinheiro. DENVER™'s manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Feliciano Mercurio was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 0-5. In the 38th minute, Acácio Nogueira left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The AC Batán fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 0-6. In the 41st minute, Acácio Nogueira ran past the defenders and hit a shot which went straight ahead into goal. Toninho Pinheiro was frozen by the shot and now it was 0-7. Toninho Pinheiro showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Acácio Nogueira in the 44th minute of the match. Feliciano Mercurio recieved an excellent pass in front of the goal in the 45th minute. Unfortunately, he received the ball on his off foot and could only manage a weak shot that went over the goal. Even after changing tactics the home team jogged off the field with a 0-8 deficit. They would have to work harder if they wanted to turn things around in the second half.

The wind increased when Acácio Nogueira made the kick off in the second half. 53 minutes into the match, Feliciano Mercurio had an open shot that he just couldn't miss and scored to the right of Toninho Pinheiro. DENVER™'s manager could be seen yelling to the referee that Feliciano Mercurio was offside, but the referee ignored the protest. 0-9. In the 57th minute Cristoforo Di Ruscio shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Toninho Pinheiro saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Toninho Pinheiro took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Cristoforo Di Ruscio, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. After 59 played minutes Cristoforo Di Ruscio rounded DENVER™'s defense and shot a beautiful shot into goal via left pole - 0-10. In the 67th minute Cristoforo Di Ruscio shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Toninho Pinheiro saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Toninho Pinheiro didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Feliciano Mercurio went, in the 68th minute, to the upper right corner, 0-12 was the resulting score. With a little luck, DENVER™'s Toninho Pinheiro got control of the ball when Jimeno Infante tried to sneak it across the goal line. In the 72nd minute, Acácio Nogueira left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The AC Batán fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 0-13. Toninho Pinheiro didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Acácio Nogueira went, in the 75th minute, to the upper right corner, 0-14 was the resulting score. In the 80th minute, Cristoforo Di Ruscio reached a very good position and smashed the ball with a huge effort into the net, just to the left of Toninho Pinheiro. The goal made the score 0-15. AC Batán made a substitution. Humberto Goiz replaced Acácio Nogueira. Cristoforo Di Ruscio fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 85th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Toninho Pinheiro having to interfere. When Luís Eduardo Araújo fell near the penalty area in the 87th minute he thought he would be awarded a free kick. The referee ignored DENVER™'s protests and gave Luís Eduardo Araújo a yellow card for diving instead. The supporters of AC Batán booed when DENVER™ was adjudged a doubtful freekick after 87 match minutes in a wonderful position. Luís Eduardo Araújo didn't get a good kick on the ball. After recieving a nice pass, AC Batán's Arif Cengiz Sökmensu tried to score from far away in the 88th minute, but the ball went over the crossbar. AC Batán's Cristoforo Di Ruscio got a good chance for a goal in the 90th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. DENVER™'s defense didn't have a chance, in the 92nd minute, when Jimeno Infante scored to the left of an out of position Toninho Pinheiro, making the score, 0-16. After 95 minutes of play, AC Batán's Humberto Goiz made it 0-17 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Toninho Pinheiro was left in no man's land by his defense there! When the final whistle sounded AC Batán left the ground with the victory after a much better performance than DENVER™.