Another Legend Begins
The Birds outdid expectations as they indeed qualified for the knockout stage of the Trophy of Legends with two wins on the final day, which left them 60th of 5228 entrants for this edition after eight rounds. They had to toil for it too, with French III.15 side L'alliance Nordiste matching them blow for blow for an hour, despite rightback Rudolf Puschen getting sent off in the 25th minute for pushing his head into
Phillip Nagata. German winger Edgar Wilckens carried Nordiste with a brace, and it took late goals from
Chad Thach and
Chia Kwang Tse to secure the points, 5-3.
Even that paled in comparison to the absolute hair-raiser to come next against Polish IV.27 long-timers MKS Pogon Szczecin, with both sides knowing well that qualification was at stake. The Birds had yet to settle when former Curaçao international fullback Gino Parris gave Szczecin the lead in the third minute off an elegantly-drifting Norbert Guitierrez-Paesold assist, but
Mohd Marzuki Khairul levelled in the tenth minute.
There were then shadows of Grilled's famous Singapore Cup final against Bot Team FC, in which the Bots kept nosing ahead, only to be hauled back each time. Thus it was for the Birds, with Marzuki putting them 4-2 up with his hat-trick lob in the 53rd minute, only for Iranian midfielder Adel Entezar to have it at 4-4 with two goals in the next eight minutes.
Chia Kwang Tse's 66th minute finish from a visionary
Lim An Keng pass wouldn't even last the minute, as José Evaristo Leite put it past
Radomil Marcol seconds after kick-off.
The game devolved into heedless attacking in the final few minutes as both clubs realized that a draw would do neither of them any good, and it would be Grilled Birds to profit from the bedlam, as
Chia Kwang Tse - playing centre-forward for this game - went over on contact from sweeper Pier Federico Tursi. All eyes were on the referee, who awarded the penalty after brief consideration, and
Raúl Himadas tapped it to Radu Căileanu's right post, with the Romanian goalkeeper barely moving.
Mason Glendinning and
Kendell El Khateeb then ran their hearts out for the couple of minutes remaining as late subs, and Birds captain
Genki Nagano would not wait to commend his teammates on their achievement. "To me, it's a sign that we are arriving at the level of challenging for big trophies." Genki said. "Let's see how much further we can go!"
Farmer Bunnies couldn't change their stripes as they drew both their matches in the Heroes of 2014 Trophy, to wind up unbeaten in 519th place with two wins and six draws, out of 1226 teams. Theodor Bordeiu of Swedish IV.33 champions Kycklingholmen struck the second and last goal of the tourney past the Buns in the 40th minute of their game off a great pass from Myanmar defender Soe Chan, to which
Prakash Bhujbal replied with their fourth and final goal scored, on a 63rd minute counter.
The 1-1 draw done with, it was the Buns against the ten men of Israeli IV.38 side Maccabi Givat-Halfon for most of the finale, after young Polish winger Konrad Radomski tackled
Ong Li Jing from behind in the eighth minute with far more force than warranted. The ill-tempered game then had
Amirul Jufri Khairil and Edi Rojnić booked, and a dead second half followed a sprinkling of chances earlier on.
Grilled International finished 747th of 2328 clubs in the Heroes of 2017 Trophy with a 4-1-3 record, starting with a 2-1 win in their seventh match, against Swedish IV.208 toppers Bokskogens BK. Bokskogens had won their last ten official games, but that was no protection against
Snæbjörn Sigfússon from the penalty spot in the 40th minute.
Umut Koza then preyed on Alexander Johansson's indecisiveness in the 58th, before Spanish specialist Martín González-Colloto swirled home a consolation from a twenty-yarder free-kick, 77 minutes in.
H.I. IV.48 participants Fat Luck Club of Cape Town, South Africa then outscored Grilled International in the closing game, with
Redhuan bin Mohd Aleshahfezan giving the Brunei side a 3-2 lead in the 48th minute from a clean half-volley. Want-away local midfield star Mandla Msimang equalized within two minutes, however, and the last eight minutes saw Cornel Ianul and Georgi Tanev punish International's slack defending.
"We could have done better."
Remond Bergervoet, who had opened for International from a clever dribble in the 13th minute, commented afterwards. "But for now, we are just going to watch the Birds play!"
