Chan Of Repute
While the heavy defeat was not enjoyed by most of the Grilled squad,
Ahmed Pećanić chose to look on the brighter side. "We were never going to win that, and if so, losing by one or eight doesn't make a difference... Okay, that sounds bad."
Then again, it's not even as if Grilled can complain too much, given that they had advanced after a withdrawal. They did not gain the dubious distinction of losing by the largest margin either, as that would go to Sporting belait, who crashed 0-9 to former Vietnam cupwinners Mu Sir FERGUSON. Defending champions Traktor Bishkek should still be favourites after prevailing in an all-Kazakh contest against Galehuset GF, while Japan's FC Glicina round out the semifinals with a 4-1 win over Lecester City.
The Farmer Bunnies meanwhile recorded a 3-0 in their visit to Belarus third division Bogemians, who mirrored the Buns' soak-and-strike strategy. All three of the goals came from dead balls in the halting affair, with
Daniel Nguyen's finish from a corner coming in between
Vishnu Tallapaka's free-kick and penalty conversions.
It was more of the same from Grilled International, who barely put up any resistance against Ukraine's PFC Debrecen. The International lads appeared shaken by the loud home crowd, and were duly taken to the cleaners by slippery Brazilian customer Antônio Carlos Boa Vista, who bagged a hat-trick. To make it worse,
Hj Rashid bin Hj Zainul is now out for a fortnight with a leg injury, inflicted by overeager Hungarian teenager László Sinka.
The pick of them all was however probably the Chicken Wings' 3-3 draw with Gavilanes, youth team of Bolivian legends 1982 Niupi, on course for a nineteenth major national trophy. Even their scouts had to admit that they had not seen a talent on the level of the Wings' Chan Ze Han, though, as the Number Seven put in a monster shift to keep Gavilanes at bay, scoring twice into the bargain.
"That boy is magic." Gavilanes youth trainer Manolo Buzzolaro enthused. "He will be a hit just about anywhere!"
