Top Five Hundred
Grilled Birds got some tongues wagging as they cruised to their best Supporter Week Trophy showing in ten years, as they won their final three games too to slot in at 497th place, with a +16 goal difference. This would also make them Singapore's top performer in the tourney, ahead of usual suspects HEBFC Tonners FC in 1810th, and Sarcastic Fringeheads in 2270th.
They would begin the third day with a repeat 4-2, this against English V.128 entrants Kenilw0rth FC, who had to deal with a
Chan Ze Han in his element. Chan would crack them open with a brilliant half-volley in the 35th minute before setting
Aw Keng Chuan up, two minutes later. Kenilw0rth FC's Gabi Vărzariu reduced only to be pegged back again by
Chia Kwang Tse, and an electric finish saw
Hwang Teck Fu and Artur Tajchman trade goals in stoppage time.
Algerian H.A.L V.241 runners-up Tassili Wan Ahaggar posed more of a challenge, and had Peruvian defender Ricardo Fuenzalid not been sent off towards the end of the first half for successive yellows, it could have been a tricky second. As it was,
Ha Qicai impressed with two good runs followed by solid shots as Aw made it a treble for the backs. It was then Romanian IV.25 Juventus Militari as Grilled's final challenge, and this time
Lim An Keng got two and
Brian Reddy one, in a 3-1 triumph.
Tian Yonghang accounted this a tremendous display, all the more given that the team did not even crack the top 7000 in the last edition, when they had far more recognized firepower. "This is adaptation." he declared proudly.
Farmer Bunnies pulled off as good a recovery act as plausible, also beating everyone put before them on the last day, with
Gilberto Sorondo's goal unbreached. Swiss H.A.L VI.278 team Züri olé were on the wrong end of a 0-4 whipping as 17 year-old Steffen Agosti was comically outnumbered on the offensive end, and
Ong Li Jing's 77th minute steal off Iman Hatamian was all the difference against Ohio's Greater Poe FC, who had just risen up to the American IV.26.
It came down to a game against Italian VI.726 aspirants Atletico Lelense 2011, and a scoreless draw looked on the cards with Polish goalkeeper Przemysław Choryłek having made an unbelievable first half stop off
Vitaliy Efendiev.
Judah Cho finally shoved it in off an extended free-kick routine in the 73rd, however, and
Ho Ah Kian then dropped a header off a Rosano corner to leave the Buns in 9576th place, with a 4-4-2 record, eight goals scored, and three conceded.
Grilled International spluttered in comparison, with the signs already evident in their 5-2 win over Polish VI.211 club Victoria Rybnik. A largely self-created
Chua Jun Long hat-trick masked many of International's deficiencies, which would be exploited wholesale by Swiss IV.60 challengers IFK Isengard next. Led by Berat Gaupp, IFK Isengard attacked off a sturdy defensive springboard, and thrashed International 5-0 with
Safari bin Hj Jali denied a consolation by former Argentine youth international goalkeeper Pierre Moralejo.
French VI.430 strivers WWE Forever were International's final test, which they flubbed too in not making the most of their possession.
Umut Koza would finally score in the 62nd minute after numerous misses, but Karol Czopiec and Krzysztof Kościelna had put them up 4-1 by then, over
Snæbjörn Sigfússon's admittedly wonderful free-kick. Sigfússon then knocked a penalty narrowly wide in the 73rd, which meant that
Waldemar Gołata's poach in injury time remained just an afterthought.
With this, Grilled International came in with five wins and five defeats and a negative one goal difference, which was something of a letdown for
Remond Bergervoet. "We should be better than this."
