Maputo Finale
It might not have been the best Supporter Week Trophy campaign for Grilled Birds as they finished in 2574th place with six wins and two draws - sixth in Singapore - but they did have the pleasure of facing some big clubs whilst staying unbeaten on the final day. This started with Dutch Homegrown League IV.17 side FC de Tilburger, who were nearly whitewashed for seven goals, before Remmelt Hammer slung a consolation home right before injury time. Which, as it happened, lasted long enough for Robin Heintze to be sent off for a late tackle on
Chad Thach.
There might very well have been a few more in that had it not been for the goaltending skills of Elko van de Water, which had the game stand in stark contrast to the next one against Finnish III.7 participants Taka-ala. Their 5-5-0 was designed to hold opponents at bay as they fired from distance, but it was
Lim An Keng's sharpshooting in the 31st minute that decided the match. Some heat rose between
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko and Javier Zazo as they were booked for bringing each other down, but they appeared to leave it all on the field at the final whistle.
The final fixture also had the highest profile, what with highly-decorated Mozambique II.1 club Red White Anto Maputo drawn as Grilled Birds' opponents. The former Taça de Mocambique winners bounced back hard after
Chia Kwang Tse's smashed ninth minute opener in the mud, and would be 3-1 up by the 27th minute.
Chad Thach reduced immediately, however, and then curled a beautiful right-footer past Romanian custodian Marius Roşioru three minutes into the second half.
That was as far as they went, sadly, with
Chia Kwang Tse's stoppage time flick clawed aside by Roşioru. The just-on
Kendell El Khateeb tried to get on the end of the loose ball, but got legally shoulder-barged aside by experienced Swiss centreback Sylvain Fenninger.
Farmer Bunnies fared less well as they lost two of their games to plunge to 10940th position on a 4-3-3 record, as they started their day with a staid 0-0 against Italian IV.39 participants Belventus. The Italians wanted to attack, but were served warning by
Ong Li Jing's near-miss in the third minute, and were further hobbled by the dismissal of Belgian winger Achraf El-Moutaraji just before the half-hour mark, for quite blatantly putting his arm in the way of a
Prakash Bhujbal effort.
Twice Trinidad & Tobago Consolation Cup holders Cadiz Caribbean then put two past the Buns, with the II.4 club taking their time to analyze their foes in a quiet first half. Another nil-all seemed likely until Ujendra Kumar whipped an unstoppable drive past
Gilberto Sorondo with fifteen minutes left, and fellow former national youth star Asheem Kumar added a second in the 84th minute, following several worthy attempts.
Finnish IV.14 side FC Mehtäkenttä then managed just the one goal past Sorondo, with Italian forward Diego Belloni losing first
Guan Ming Kum, and then
Wee Liang Teck before slotting it home in the 36th minute. The Buns were hardly getting out of their own half, and Sorondo would have to be at his best to deny Tommi Degert from a fifteen-yard free-kick in the 75th minute. Belloni might then have had another from Simo-Samuli Vacker's uncontested goal kick, but he wasn't expecting that either.
Grilled International were 14227th with four wins and a draw, as they added two defeats in a tough final day. New boy
Peng Quntai would be thrown into the deep end as a late sub in all three games, starting with Italian Homegrown League V.70 favourites Forza Elena in a doomed effort. Luca Asaro led the charge as Forza put International to the sword, 6-0 with barely any resistance.
That had
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh publicly berating his squad after the game, and they improved to a four-all draw against another Homegrown League side, Mexico's Weldyn FC, in their next fixture. The V.237 representatives' open game was appreciated by the fans, and International looked to have won it when
Waldemar Gołata headed
Khosrov Danelyan's corner home after 81 minutes, to make it 4-2. Alas, Moisés Calzada and Matías Páez tied it up, and Gołata's desperate strike after that passed marginally over the bar.
A 3-4 defeat to Bangladeshi II.1 runners-up Rangpur FC couldn't feel too bad all considered, as International once more took the initiative with the recent Consolation Cup winners altogether too passive following former São Tomé e Príncipe U-20 forward Albano Miguel Dias' sixteenth minute opener.
Redhuan bin Mohd Aleshahfezan had his team 3-1 up in the 55th minute, but another collapse occurred, and Albano Miguel Dias won it with his hat-trick header in the 78th minute.
