81 And Counting
Grilled Birds enjoyed a flying start to the first day of their Supporter Week Trophy bid, winning all four matches against strong opposition. Swiss VI.511 top seeds Bümpliz United from Bern, Switzerland were first up, but managed to field only nine men. Unsurprisingly, this ended 8-1 via a
Chad Thach hat-trick. Thach would be back at it again with a brace - the same as
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko and
Chia Kwang Tse - in the 6-1 mauling of Irish II.4 club The Drunken Butterflies next, which had 31 year-old former Irish youth international attacker Patrik Hayden rip through on a 61st minute counterattack.
There was no letup in the quality of the opposition with the Birds being drawn against Spanish II.1 former Copa Esmeralda de VII holders Desconexion for the third round, and they would be run very close before prevailing 4-3; there was simply no downplaying
Chad Thach today, as he stretched Grilled's lead to two goals with a critical volley on
Wu Ping De's lead-in in the 72nd minute, which allowed them to keep victory despite Tanzanian national striker George Mwangonda's injury-time reducer off Óscar Hess Araya's courageous surge up the left.
Dutch IV.18 team De Tankey's were then Grilled's final assignment, but the recent Spek-en-Bonenschaal winners were not in the best of form.
Genki Nagano squeezed through to open in the fourth minute, and they would swop defender Reza Piters for Thys Hulsebos in search of a consolation in the 75th minute, soon after
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko had completed his brace. That didn't turn out well either, as
Chia Kwang Tse sprung their offside trap, and widened the angle against goalie Hoite Voolstra before making it 5-0.
This had Grilled Birds finish a lofty 81st of 24082 entrants after the first day, and had head coach
Dan Alstani purring about the new season. "The preparations look to be going quite well, and I hope the players take the chance to refine their mutual understanding."
Farmer Bunnies were not all that far behind, though they did lose their opening match before winning the other three. Their conquerors were Israeli V.181 champions FC Nesher, whose Ismael Del Carmen Aburto saw a glancing header sneak by
AES Anchan, before
Gan Ruogui levelled on some incredible approach work by
Masato Kitano. Israel Abergil and Peled Durani then struck in a second half dominated by Nesher, however, with
AES Anchan having to further scramble to reach another Laurits Zacho header after that.
The Buns got back on track against Turkish V.52 favourites Harmanlık, as
Arturo Rosano got two rare goals from open play, before
Gan Ruogui finally got free of 19 year-old Latvian defender Maikls Spariņš in the 68th minute, following a host of near-misses. That 3-0 was followed by a 2-0 against Belgian VI.174 club AA La Gauloise, in which Gan scored both while again missing a bunch - though that was largely due to heavy coverage by Gauloise's diligent back four.
It was then down to the single goal against Tahiti's Sparta Cvrcek Homegrown in V.45 of the Homegrown League, as Farmer Bunnies did an excellent job of monopolizing possession, but less of one in moving the ball upfield. Young custodian Justin Viriamu might well have kept it to a draw, but for
Sng Xin Wai's inch-perfect grounder to his left post after losing his man in the 68th minute.
Vishnu Tallapaka saw
Gan Ruogui's demonstration of the goalscoring arts as quite impressive. "Sure the conversion rate may not be especially high yet, but it shows than Gan is getting into good positions in the first place. It's not easy getting free as a lone striker, so hopefully our wingers can give more support."
Grilled International may be in for some hard times were it not for their easy Division Five league, from how they managed just the single win. Austrian V.140 hosts FC Hart were the first test, and one which
Waldemar Gołata eventually saved a point from with his two goals, sandwiching young Icelandic centreback Valentínus Ögmundsson's own brace.
There would then be a 6-1 result over Finnish VI.632 representatives Lustikulla IF, who opened through a looping header by Alvi Oja, only to have
Mikhail Romashov convert two penalties by the 24th minute, with Gołata then adding a hat-trick. A 2-4 defeat against Castile and León VI.268 side F.C. Aureus Phoenix was next, as Pedro Alio hauled them back after
Khosrov Danelyan and
Nurul Aleshahnezan bin Adib had combined to give International a 17th minute lead.
They then ended the day with a 3-6 loss to another Spanish side, triana fc of VI.753, as
Vincent Nordin bin Hj Irwan got sent off for a straight red in the 29th minute, due to throwing hands at Óscar Rivas Rocafull after a tough challenge. triana quickly extended their lead to three through Dymitr Bogusz, and had six goals by the time
Mikhail Romashov lashed a confident penalty past David Gil de Vivero with six minutes remaining.
International gaffer
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh expressed relief at the showings by Gołata and Romashov. "Division Five should be a happy hunting ground for them, on this evidence!"
