Virtually Equal
Grilled Birds had a testy second day in the Supporter Week Trophy, with one of each outcome as they encountered well-matched opponents. Mexican IV.50 top dogs Silver Armor F.C started strong with Julio López giving them the lead with grace in the 27th minute, one that lasted till
Lim An Keng's volley in the 40th. The restart had the Birds amped, and goals by
Gandhik Chitre,
Paulino Trindade and
Chia Kwang Tse made it 4-1, with
Radomil Marcol stopping Víctor Flores Ugalde late on.
Marcol was not able to keep it up against local II.4 club Virtuals P - formerly known as Featureship FC and Team Boba - who they had notably beaten 4-2 in the Sapphire Challenger Cup final last season. Leong Beng Kian had them ahead in this grudge reply, but Thach and Chitre appeared to have all but won it, with Adil Dilnaz having to scramble to keep
Raúl Himadas' free-kick away in the 52nd. Janusz Sabat was somehow left free in added time, however, and a refusal to heed that less by the Birds would see Benjamin Lim feed Ergun Örsal for the comeback.
Well, that was easier to accept than it it had happened in a cup final, and Grilled would move on to face former Campeonato Brasileiro titleholders Flamengo do Arpoador-RJ for their final match of the day. Now striving in III.15, the Rio de Janeiro side were uncharacteristically subdued in the first half, and went behind to
Chia Kwang Tse's chip over English custodian Francis Farndale after 28 minutes. Carlo Tangorra levelled, and then
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and Christian Casanova exchanged goals to leave Grilled Birds at 4971st position for now.
This was behind Farmer Bunnies in 4053rd, as it turned out, as the Buns made the most of favourable matchups to claim three straight victories. The first of those was also the biggest, as Italian VII.816 club Jasta11 broke after
Gabriel Priebe's 71st minute penalty, allowing him another from a long free-kick four minutes later. Emboldened, the Buns encamped in numbers, and
Lim Guang Qiang flipped a header past Ferry Hoytema next.
Two 1-0 wins followed, beginning with Kazakhstani III.2 contestants Turkistan Wolves, whose homegrown keeper Vitaliy Chevordaev magnificently guessed correctly against Priebe from the spot in the 40th minute. Priebe's reaction would be to assist
Dušan Václavík from a corner three minutes later, sadly for Chevordaev. It was then back to doing it himself for the American against Swiss VI.662 opponents Wiking United, as he drove it straight down the middle against 17 year-old reserve goalie Reno Rauchenstein.
Grilled International dipped to 7176th on two losses, as they endured a 0-4 whitewash by Polish V.28 side Sojczanka Bytom for starters. Midas Pasažauskas' burning of
Stef Vreys for pace in the fourth minutes was a warning sign, and the International backline would never look comfortable against the speedy duo of Pasažauskas and Trond Tveter. Bytom sweeper Zdzisław Furmanik would be sent off for rough play six minutes from time, but that was hardly enough for International to do anything much.
There would be a 3-0 result against Dutch VI.570 newcomers Ceramezen next, with
Remond Bergervoet and
Snæbjörn Sigfússon exposing Ignazio Santoiemma's aggressive positioning in the first half.
Egidius van der Duin then finished from up close, in the 61st. A tight contest versus Vietnamese III.7 outfit Shamrock Szczecin saw Frank Lombardi stun International in the second minute, and they chased in vain with Spanish striker Armengol Munlloch wrapping up a 3-2 win off a dazzling run, after 77 minutes.
