Valkyries Descend
Alas, it was not to be this year for Grilled Birds in the Trophy of Legends, after they were beaten 4-2 by German II.1 club Gladiators Cologne FC 03 in an evenly-matched battle. Tall forward Sandro Baberg had been pointed out as one to watch, being amongst the tourney's top scorers thus far, but his teammates proved more than capable of picking up the slack after
Genki Nagano put up a man-marking tutorial.
Sascha Wittelsbach opened from a sharp eighth-minute counter to fulfil the Birds' worst fears, but they would go into half-time on level terms due to
Hwang Teck Fu following up on
Lim An Keng's blocked header from a corner.
Chad Thach eventually cut their lead to 3-2 from a
Mohd Marzuki Khairul cross in the 82nd, but Sven-Carsten Grimeisen killed off any remaining hopes from a well-worked free-kick routine, two minutes on.
Grilled Birds would go on to win their remaining fixture against Swedish IIg runners-up Angels of Gothenburg with
Phillip Nagata bagging the only goal of the match in the 39th minute, but both sides knew they were out by then. "It was a pity." the winger said. "But these are the breaks. 109th of 5132 teams isn't that bad, no matter how you look at it."
Farmer Bunnies drew both their games to end up 491st of 1162 entrants to the Heroes of 2014 Trophy, with it being
Arturo Rosano from the spot yet again for Portuguese V.13 winners BarrascosFC. They responded with the tenacity that has allowed them to win eleven on the trot, in pressing makeshift rightback
Arvind Shah off the ball in his own six-yard box. Manuel Garcia Monteiro had options, but elected to hit it straight into the near bottom corner.
A nil-all at Spanish VI.597 champs el oscuro completed the Buns' campaign, with little to speak about an uneventful first half but for
Guan Ming Kum's booking for holding up a free-kick in the 22nd minute. Guan would come close from a deep corner two minutes into the second half, but Bunnies should count themselves lucky after Latvian playmaker Sīmanis Vanags somehow failed to put it into an empty net with eight minutes remaining.
Grilled International struggled to 1209th place of 2192 in the Heroes of 2017 Trophy, after they underperformed against German V.195 side Tólpel.f.c to lose 1-3. A 56th minute
Khosrov Danelyan dead ball stunner was their only success against Tólpel's disciplined three at the back, while Christian Kirchmair, Ivan Dražo and Ales' Rahovich scored for the Germans.
There would then be a one-all draw with Spanish V.232 club A Ras da Kona, with
Redhuan bin Mohd Aleshahfezan making the most of the space he had to lob Polish custodian Wiktor Piwowar fourteen minutes in. Kona forward Alberto Velzunza answered immediately with a blazing drive just past
Darshana De Abrew, and that was how it stayed to the end.
