Portuguese came into this game atop the divisional standings sporting an 8-1-1 record.  St. Columban sat in eighth at 3-1-6.  Two notable and recent victories by St. Columban did seem to indicate that St. Columban knew how to win soccer games.  A week earlier they shut out Serbia in a 4-0 contest, and on July 11 they beat the White Eagles 3-0.  The question was, could their strikers penetrate a Portuguese defense that had only let in six goals all season?  It took nearly the entire 90 minutes of playing time to answer that question.    In the early going it was Portuguese showing why they were the best team in the division so far as they moved the ball very quickly up through the midfield areas and put on the pressure in the St. Columban zone.  Portuguese strikers exhibited excellent speed and often had the St. Columban defenders chasing them.  A Portuguese striker let a blast go towards the top right corner of the St. Columban goal at about 18 minutes in and it suddenly looked like the team in red was taking control of the game early on.  The St. Columban keeper had other ideas however as he made a diving save and punched the ball out of harm's way.  This very athletic response along with strong words coming from the St. Columban bench indicated that St. Columban was ready to put up a fight.    The St. Columban offense was nearly non-existent in the first half as the one or two strikers they kept up front couldn't get the step on the three or four Portuguese defenders that they faced in the opposite end of the pitch.  In fact subsequent to St. Columban clears, the Portuguese defenders faced little pressure and moved freely with the ball while devising plays that would nearly continually penetrate the St. Columban zone.  St. Columban kept nearly everyone back however to repel these advances, and in spite of what to some may have been seen as a deficit in talent, the defenders in green showed their opponents no undeserved respect and commanded a physical presence on the field that sometimes had the Portuguese players complaining.  In terms of time of possession and shots on goal in the first half, Portuguese was far in the lead, however due to brute determination and adherence to a defensive system - along with a solid performance by their keeper - kept the game scoreless until the end of the half.
The game continued much in the same manner in the second half, although with a higher intensity of play coming from both sides.  Portuguese mounted attack after offensive attack, and St. Columban responded in fashion with strong physical responses to these penetrations into their defensive zone.  Shots on net increased even more in the second for Portuguese, but all of these shots were either near misses or handled with a fair degree of certainty by the St. Columban keeper.  On field battles for the ball during this half were spirited and quite intense, as both sides knew that as the clock steadily ran down only a single goal could very easily take the game.    Portuguese earned a number of corners through the half, but this did not seem to deter the players in green that made strong efforts to cover each man and fight hard to clear the ball out of the box area.  As the time wore down it appeared that St. Columban would continue with their formidable defensive effort and likely earn a tie and the single point.  In fact the team and their coach appeared to be happy with this potential outcome.  At the other end of the field however the Portuguese coach continued to make adjustments and often voiced his displeasure with his teams inability to find the mesh despite so many opportunities.  In the final ten minutes of the game the pace was nearly frantic.  Play became very chippy and yellow cards were awarded.  Subsequent to some very assertive battles for the ball in the midfield, St. Columban earned a throw-in from just inside their zone.  As several heated words were being exchanged between players on either side the ball was sent down the sidelines into the Portuguese area.    Seemingly out of nowhere three St. Columban stikers appeared and very quickly formulated a tic-tac-toe passing play that penetrated into the Portuguese box and had the defenders in red somehow on their heels.  A quick pass was made to St. Columban's # 15, Aaron Vandenheuven, and from about 16 yards out in front of the goal he placed a shot along the ground that found the bottom right corner of the Portuguese net in the 44th minute.  The St. Columban team erupted in jubilation.  There was injury time to play however and Portuguese did in no way give up hope.  The St. Columban defense stood strong for these final moments, and this very entertaining battle of a game was ultimately theirs.  JHS