Mikaido Shine
The Birds' volume of matches had worn them down, from their showings in the Supporter Week Trophy, as they lost two eminently-winnable games. The opener against Swiss H.A.L VI.594 participants Gümel United went as expected with a 6-1 steamrolling with a consolation by the mercurial Udo Syed, but Basel VI.142 club FC Mikaido would defend their country's honour next, as Junior Molina led them to a 6-2 victory despite losing possession. A riled-up
Chad Thach moreover lashed out twice late on, and was sent off by the 83rd minute.
Thach would thus be unavailable for the third fixture against Liechtenstein III.14 side East Preston Allstars, in which the remaining Birds went well off the boil, and were unable to score. Allstars led through a decisive 27th minute counter that had Ingolf Stoltzfus run free against
Dimitris Germanakos, and got a second as
Brian Reddy miscued a clearance into his own net after 69 minutes. English custodian Darren Dalton had a great day too as he saved a host of strikes, including one from just two yards from
Joe Reece later on.
The embattled
Joe Reece would finally get the pick-me-up he craved against German III.3 winners mottensen, with a sharp second-half brace in an eventful 6-3.
Gandhik Chitre would put Grilled ahead twice in the previous half only for mottensen to equalize each time, but
Chad Thach's low drive two minutes from the break would have the Birds in the driving seat, for the rest of the game.
Farmer Bunnies would remarkably concede nothing in their first four tournament games, with Piast Skawina (Polish VI.765), SK Slavia Cerhenice (Czech V.143), Tuskaiset Pamputtajat (Finnish H.I. V.64) and Kvalheim's Syrian Heroes (Syrian II.1) all unable to get anything past
Gilberto Sorondo.
Unfortunately, the Buns were largely impotent at the other end too, and recorded but a single goal, an
Arturo Rosano free-kick coming four minutes from the end of their clash with Tuskaiset Pamputtajat. This didn't put them particularly high up the table in 12962nd, marginally behind the Birds in 12192nd position.
There would also be an additional fixture in the King of Football Cup sandwiched between the Buns' third and fourth matches, which saw them unleash on just-demoted Bulgarian V.252 club Vladimircho. Orlin Hristov had Vlad ahead in the 28th with a rocket past Sorondo, but
Judah Cho levelled in the 41st, and Danish defender Lukas Gammelgaard would be sent off for pushing Cho in the aftermath.
Prakash Bhujbal and Cho then secured a 3-1 result in the next half.
Grilled International then led the way with three wins to sit pretty in 2741st place on nine points, starting with 5-2 versus Moldovan III.14 participants F.C. Bucovina, whose Pintilie Goleanu led a doomed rearguard action with two goals. H.A.L VI.853 outfit Lara's Boys were next to fall, with
Chua Jun Long,
Safari bin Hj Jali and
Umut Koza making it 3-0, as Brazilian forward Rodrigo Gabriel Dias got himself ejected in the 74th minute for flattening
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh in search of a consolation.
International dared to dream following a third straight win, this against Hungarian V.8 team Kuvasz Athletic FC, as they dominated the proceedings and led through
Remond Bergervoet. Attila Hunya's response in the 27th minute proved to be as much as Kuvasz could muster in their 1-3 defeat. Sadly, International's run would be stopped by Première Ligue Haïtienne representatives Triceratops, who fought from behind twice to prevail 4-2, with Sri Lankan national legend Danushka Hathurusingha capping it with his classy 72nd minute finish.
