Gaste 3 - 1 Grilled
The clouds were hanging menacingly over the stadium today. The following players took the field:
Keckes -
Magarethen,
Treppner,
Schmelz,
Zemerov -
Brandorf,
Werdich,
Burghagen,
Dugnus,
Romacker -
Urtmelidze.
The following players had been selected:
Germanakos -
Keng Chuan,
其材 (Qicai) -
Reddy,
Thach,
Kwang Tse,
Khairul,
Parada -
Reece,
Thoroddsen,
Tokarz.
The teams had chosen different formations for the match. The home team, 1.FC Gaste, went for a 4-5-1, while Grilled Birds has decided to play a 2-5-3 lineup. Grilled clearly preferred using their divine (+8) (28) ability to attack in the middle today. 2 minutes into the game,
Chia Kwang Tse almost gave the visitors the lead, as he chipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. With 3 minutes played,
Aleko Urtmelidze knocked one home from a counter-attack down the right wing, making the score 1 - 0.
Thomas Treppner had prepared to man-mark
Lim An Keng, who is not in today's lineup. He may now have some trouble adapting to the game plan. Grilled got a chance to level the scores in minute 15 as
夏 (Ha) 其材 (Qicai) suddenly found himself free with only the keeper to beat, but the finish hit the bar. With the clock showing 16 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Gaste resulted in a counter-attack that was smoothly brought under control by
Aleko Urtmelidze in the center of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high.
夏 (Ha) 其材 (Qicai) behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 20 minutes as he gave the ball away to
Fabian Brandorf. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. Gaste's
Viktor Romacker swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defense were able to clear the ball. Grilled's
Chad Thach was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 33 minutes. With 34 minutes played,
Bastian Werdich could have brought this one home for Gaste as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. 1 - 0 was the halftime score. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 52 percent possession in this half was spot on!
After 47 minutes,
Aleko Urtmelidze put Gaste ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a hooked ball, the result of an effort from the right side. Grilled's right side looked dangerous after 63 minutes, as
Orest Tokarz broke through.
Sebastian Keckes continued to stifle them, however, as he made the save look easy. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Grilled, and they were successfully passing the ball from the wing into the middle at the behest of their coach. The home team's fans were upset when, after 65 minutes, the visiting
Mohd Marzuki Khairul broke through the central defense and got the ball past the keeper. 2 - 1 was the score. Big paper red cards were being held up by the opposing supporters with 68 minutes on the clock after
Federico Parada's mistimed tackle from behind. The referee only showed the Grilled player a yellow card though. After 69 minutes, the Gaste coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving
Aleko Urtmelidze off.
Benjamin Hein took his place. 70 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution.
Evandro La Face came on for
Orest Tokarz. 70 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Chia Kwang Tse gave
Lim An Keng a quick hug as he left the field.
Thomas Treppner did everything in his power to contain
Lim An Keng from having an impact in the game. A risky tactic, as
Thomas Treppner was often pulled away from his starting position in the process. As the match nears its end, the referee deemed it appropriate to add 1 minutes as stoppage time.
Fabian Brandorf gave Gaste supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 1 after 89 minutes, following a good exchange of passes on the right that the away team failed to deal with. The match ends 3 - 1. Well, look at this! Cardi B is on the Enormotron in naught but giant sunglasses and a Twisted Metal F.C. tank top. I've not seen anything like it before. Most important Gaste player was
Benjamin Hein. Even six year old fans were wincing at the poor play by
Günther Schmelz today. Grilled's best player was
Gústav Thoroddsen. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because
Dimitris Germanakos seemed to stumble all over the pitch.