Dallas Cup Final - Super group
Pizza Hut Park Stadium, Frisco, TX.
Sunday 4th April 2010, 6pm

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube 4(1)
(All Blue)

CF Monterrey Rayados 2(0)
(White/Blue)

Cruzeiro Team (4-3-3) - Borges R, Assis, Rodrigues, Bento, Borges L(Oliveira 67), Silva H, Jesus, Bessa, Silva J(Santos C 71), Santos A(Carvalho 82), Soares(Araujo 82)

Unused subs - Mota, Alves, Souza

Coach - A. Grasseli

Scorers - Bessa 10, Soares 49, Araujo 85, Santos C 90+2

Booked -Bessa 32(Backing in), Bento 82(Free kick from wrong place), Araujo 90+2(Refusing to hand over the ball)

Monterrey team(4-4-2) - Ibarra, Martinez, Hernandez, Amaro(Rivera 86), De La Pena, Soto(Alanis 52), Garcia, Felix(Flores 57), Moreno, Chavez, Madrid(Llergo 63)

Unused subs - Perez, Acosta

Coach - J. Solis

Scorers - Moreno 74,Llergo 79

Booked - Chavez 40(Pulling), Flores 57(Trip)

Referee - P. O'Leary(NZ)
Assistants - A. Garner(US), R. Atkin(UK)
4th Official - D. Robertson(Scot)

The final started with Cruzeiro taking control of the match with their pace and quick reactions which left the opponents trailing. The Brazilians took an early lead when Bessa curled a 25 yard free kick around the outside of the wall into the right side of the goal. Monterrey were luckly to only go in a goal down at half-time.

Inside five minutes of the restart Cruzeiro increased their lead when Soares was sent clear on the right to beat the keeper with a low finish. Cruzeiro looked to settle for the two goals while Monterrey made attacking changes and pushed forward. They got their reward when they got down the right and crossed for Moreno to head home. Five minutes later and they were level. Llergo took a free kick from a similar position to the one Bessa took in the first half with identical results.

Soares attempted to lob the keeper from the restart which Ibarra fumbled onto the post before holding on to it. This showed that Cruzeiro were not going to be overtaken and they refreshed their forward line and went for a winner. Cavalho fired in a long range effort from the left which Ibarra could not hold and Araujo seized the loose ball and slotted home. With Monterrey pushing forward for another equaliser Silva picked up the ball in his own half and carried it deep into enemy territory before playing Santos in who finished passed Ibarra with ease.

With Monterrey wanting to restart quickly Araujo grabbed the ball. The ref was quickly on the scene to show him a yellow card unfortunately the Monterrey players lost control and a brawl started on the field. As Araujo was lead to the bench to keep him away from the trouble he had precipitated, the Monterrey players from the dugout arrived and clashed with the Brazilians there. The ref left the pitch ending the game as the trouble continued for another five or so minutes before order was restored and medals given out. This was a bad end to a good final in which the best side won.

Ray