Dutch Malus
The Birds sustained their first loss in this Trophy of Legends to Dutch III.6 opponents Malus Alces, who made the most of their time in the box under the leadership of Omani national striker Abdulrahman Taha Al-Abady. Neither he nor national teammate Yaqthan Abdulhafeeth Al-Ya'qooby would find the net, but their threat was enough to unsettle Grilled sufficiently to condemn them to a crushing 1-5 defeat.
Lim An Keng showed some defiance with his run through to put it past Henrico Hopfgarten in the 82nd minute, but Eduard Fîrnachi had the last say in injury time.
It got better as Grilled then wiped Finnish IV.22 team Räntämäki United 3-0, with
Raúl Himadas overlapping on the inside for a second minute opener.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Brian Reddy then scored either side of the 25th minute, with plenty of goalline heroics by Wolf Kalning and company thereafter. Bosnian III.6 former cupwinners West Vratnik United ran the Birds closer, with Józef Kucz setting up a nervous finale following
Chia Kwang Tse and
Gandhik Chitre's first-half strikes.
Farmer Bunnies would likewise enjoy two wins, starting with
Arturo Rosano's 77th minute free-kick winner versus Lithuanian IV.58 side FK Pušynas. Polish VI.453 club RKS Gdańsk then taught them a thing or three with Swedish veteran defender Peter Larsson slinging two expert free-kicks by
Gilberto Sorondo, with a corner kick assist to Brazilian forward Rodolpho Luiz Queiroz de Moura in between.
It would be back to Rosano from a dead ball against Ontario's Ghisa United de Napanee, as the Canadian III.4 participants prepared for a qualifier against Chamos FC. Their best shot at equalizing came immediately afterwards as they won a corner, but Myanmar winger Lin Youlun stabbed it marginally wide with Sorondo watching.
Grilled International had mixed fortunes, beginning with a two-all draw with Romanian V.206 competitors Samurai Jack. They could have done better after
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh and
Remond Bergervoet had put them two up by the 32nd minute, but Hungarian right winger László Szendrő set Pierre-Alain Hautbois up, three minutes on. Pondus Reirå then blocked a spectacular
Chua Jun Long diving header in the 49th minute, which led into Ştefan-Lucian Floroiu tying it up from a long dribble.
A 1-5 loss to Chilean Division Four club Deportivo Libertario was next, as their Abel Colipi proved irrepressible with his unfathomable movements on the ball. That said, International were still looking good early as
Mohsen Zeynali struck in the nineteenth minute, but Octavio Portes converted a soft penalty seven minutes after, and Colipi then plundered a hat-trick. Belgian defender Jasper De Lelie rubbed salt into the wound with an opportunistic poach in added time.
Portuguese IV.28 outfit Real Mealhada were International's last test of the day, and the Lisbon club drew first blood through Spanish Number Ten Steven Pregonero's bold effort in the 15th minute, only for
Umut Koza to cancel it out from a header straightaway.
Leri Bezhanishvili's collected finish in the 33rd appeared to have been enough for the win, but then came veteran Italian attacker Alberto Zorzetto with nine minutes remaining, slicing past the ageing
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh to draw level.
All that did was to spark an extremely loud response from the Brunei side, as it transpired, with
Chua Jun Long and
Waldemar Gołata thundering a brace each against shellshocked Israeli custodian Weizmann Sherki, even as
Darshana De Abrew warded off an absolute stunner by Zorzetto somewhere in there. "Man, that was intense!" defender
Tamit bin Said commented afterwards. "I got high just watching from the back."
