So Evenly Matched
Djan Bacelar was more than willing to admit that United Warrior Team had been about the equal of Grilled on the pitch. "A few important calls went our way, even if they were absolutely the right ones, in my opinion. The referee had a very good day."
"Warriors had some interesting tactics, and with the depth of talent they possess, it was not unexpected that we let in a few. Thankfully, our forward line did their job too, and I'm already looking forward to adding the Ruby cup to our collection."
The only team left standing between Grilled and the trophy is The Void Deck, who stunned Club Dinosauria 2-1 despite influential winger Paolo Lo Bartolo being retired early. The Dinos' Voldemar Konstabler had a terrible time of it, missing a penalty and then a sitter, leaving Void to get through with two second-half strikes.
Although The Void Deck have not won against the Birds in their last five meetings, midfielder
Zhu Changchun warned that none of those had been a breeze. "Void have a rather unique way of playing, and you'll get bitten if you leave them any space at all. We will be looking to get at them as fast and hard as possible."
The Challenger cups will be a fitting finale to Singapore's tourney season, coming as it does after Kim Tae Hee joined Isle of Flames, Grilled and HaTT in the exclusive club of three-time champions today. Shining Lights had taken a quick two-goal lead, but were never quite as ruthless after Danish striker Gert Tausen hobbled off. In the end, Kim Tae Hee keeper Veniamin Guryanov made the only save of the shootout off former national youth midfielder Ng Kwang Chin.
