Final-day of Otten Cup #68
A rainy third day of the Otten Cup started with the semi-finals. Another exciting day was waiting for all visitors.
Red Bull Brasil and Real Madrid paired on the main field. After a cracking match without any goals, penalty kicks needed to decide who would earn a place in the big final. Last years winners Real Madrid were the unlucky team missing once. This meant a new club was going to win the tournament.
The other semi-final was between Liverpool and Anderlecht. Liverpool got a spot kick in the first half, but missed. Anderlecht immediately took advantage of the dissapointment at Liverpool and scored 1-0. For a long time they seemed to be heading for the final, but just before the end of the match Cleary put the Liverpudlians back into the game. The lottery of the penalty kicks was won by Liverpool not missing a single spot kick. Anderlecht needed to battle Los Merengues for the bronze medal and Liverpool would meet Red Bull Brasil for the gold medal.
FC Twente and Heerenveen played for seventh place and the match was decided in the first half. FC Twente scored the all important goal and ended in seventh place, while Heerenveen finish bottom.
PSV and AZ met in the battle for fifth place. AZ took the lead, holding on to the lead for a long time. In the final part of the match hosts PSV got a penalty and in the last minute of the match Cmiljanic headed in the winner. With this win PSV ended up in fifth place and AZ in sixth place.
The bronze medal match was played between Anderlecht and Real Madrid. Both teams desperately wanted to end the tournament with a win. Anderlecht edged the first half without being able to score a goal. Real Madrid was the better team in the second half, scoring two goals. Anderlecht got a goal back via an own goal, but with another goal by Los Merengues they would win the bronze medal leaving Anderlecht in the most ungrateful place: fourth.
In the big final Red Bull Brasil and Liverpool met. It quickly became clear that Red Bull Brasil had no intention settling for second place. They took an early 2-0 lead and this lead really gave them wings. In the second half the final was settled when Red Bull Brasil scored a third goal and Liverpool received a red card. Liverpool finished in an honourable second place and Red Bull Brasil is the new Otten Cup Champion 2014!!
This message was published on Sunday 17 August 2014 at 16:24
