Quake Off Feet
Grilled Birds' Day One of the Supporter Week Trophy involved two wins and a draw, with
Raúl Himadas thrown directly into the deep end, and mostly acquitting himself well. He took but 29 minutes to score against Estonian IV.62 side JK Teemant in the opener, which however had
Ha Qicai seize the limelight with two goals in two minutes, about 73 minutes in. Róger Condorcanqui blazed through for a fabulous solo goal next, only to be answered by
Brian Reddy and
Lim An Keng for 7-1.
It would be seven more against Swiss VI.594 winners Bunnys United, with Lim,
Paulino Trindade and
Chia Kwang Tse putting Grilled three up within the first eight minutes. Himadas scored a neat grounder from open play 28 minutes in, before another pinpoint free-kick to close it a 7-2 after 70 minutes. It was then back to
Ha Qicai versus Swedish IIe club Bent United, though excellent second-half positioning by Chilean Number Ten Hernán Torres get them back to 4-4.
Paulino Trindade had a chance to steal it deep in injury time, but Bent goalie Behnam Sheikhu wouldn't bite at his feint, and went down quickly to block the shot.
Defeat would finally arrive at the hands of freshly-crowned Israeli Ligat Ha´al champions Earthquakes FC, whose smartly-designed free-kick routine opened the whole left side up for Jason Frederick. It stayed at one-nil until the 59th minute when Ugandan legend Emmanuel Makubuya added a second, followed by Benin national star Denagan Honfo Djinadou.
Raúl Himadas dipped one past Bulgarian Number One Todor Sirakov, but makeshift forward Gustavo Adolfo Sotelo upped it to 4-1 three minutes before the whistle.
"It's always good to test ourselves against the best, which Earthquakes can certainly claim to be among." Birds boss
Tian Yonghang said afterwards. "Oh, and Himadas has been doing all that has been expected of him thus far, and more."
The Buns found it hard going in comparison with three defeats and a draw, as Argentine VI.294 club Verde Esperanza Nunca Pierde and San Marino IV.45 outfit Gatti Neri CCFC - both of whom had won their respective leagues - beat them by the odd goal to begin with. Former Paraguayan youth international forward Digno Delgado sped through in the 18th minute for VENP, with João Coelho beating that by two minutes for Gatti, after Kenyan winger Ghali Jepleting - recently capped - blew by
Gabriel Priebe.
It got slightly better with Myanmar III.15 challengers Fc Glüt, as they cancelled each other in a goalless draw, which did see Priebe sent off in the 43rd minute after another late tackle.
Arvind Shah would stand in for him in central defence against Italian V.59 side CARP.78 next, and it was perhaps inevitable that Bunnies would leak goals freely, as 37 year-old Swedish veteran striker Magnus Andersson plundered a late hat-trick.
Buns captain
Gilberto Sorondo was somewhat disappointed. "Other than our counters, we have been slow regaining our positions as well. It's been a long season, but that's not a good excuse."
Conversely, Grilled International kept pace with the Birds with the exact same overall record, beginning with a 4-4 draw against Spanish VI.929 team Eintrach el Balon.
Snæbjörn Sigfússon was the hero against the Barcelona club with a hat-trick, if two from penalties, before fading into the background as International outlasted Portuguese VI.330 winners PIENSE SPORTING CLUBE, 6-3.
Umut Koza excelled with two goals, before a stoppage-time exchange between Terence van Bon and
Chua Jun Long.
Italian V.66 opponents Play team then beat International 3-2 with French striker Yoann Toublanc bullying their defenders, which left
Hardi bin Besar and then
Leri Bezhanishvili to bookstop the scoring. International could hardly complain about the loss given how many Play had missed, however, and they recovered with another 6-3, this time against Swedish IV.73 contestants IFK Ribbträff.
Umut Koza claimed another brace, with former Canadian national U-20 forward John Latimer doing the same for the Swedes.