Diamonds In The Rough
If the first day was exhilarating, the second day of the Supporter Week Trophy had Grilled Birds brought back down to earth, as they were unable to find victory, instead drawing twice. Newly-promoted French II.2 side Graindesel were first, with the former Championnat titleholders keeping Grilled to a 2-2 draw. It took all of
Chad Thach's inventiveness to pull the Birds back from the brink with Italian wingback Nicola Dragonetti in the mood, with
Radomil Marcol having to make crucial late stops from Dragonetti and Imar Hamidouch.
It didn't get better against German II.4 club Kickers Lumpenhafen, themselves former Bundesliga champions, if half a century ago. This was perhaps the first time in this edition of the tourney that Grilled were comprehensively outfought, even if they did go ahead through
Phillip Nagata after weathering an early barrage. Lumpenhafen collected three yellow cards as they laid into the Grilled players, and eventually won it through captain Felix Riefers in the 74th minute, after Russian forward Sergey Charkin had drawn
Houssam Belhocine wide.
The 1-2 defeat would be followed by a high-scoring 5-5 tie with Kuwaiti Premier League defending champions Kuwait Diamonds, who have just won their third national title in a row. Grilled were not cowed despite falling behind 2-4 at half-time after excellent work from Indonesian wide man Subarkah Tirtayasa, with Belhocine getting one back in the 49th minute. Bulgarian defender Angel Kozhuharov's dismissal after 58 minutes for violent conduct had
Lim An Keng give the Birds the lead just six minutes on, but Julio César Torres levelled immediately.
Grilled skipper
Genki Nagano professed not to be discouraged by the day's return. "Those were three former or current national league winners." he pointed out. "Sure we could have been luckier, but on balance the results were fair."
Farmer Bunnies split their results, beginning the day with a nil-all against English V.62 participants Phobia FC, whose star former U-21 international Toby Sharp made perhaps the most dangerous run of the match in the 42nd minute, before finally being caught by
Arturo Rosano.
Gan Ruogui could have taken it from a through pass 72 minutes in, but homegrown goalie James Fallows was too good.
A 3-0 hammering of German V.29 side SV FightClub was next, with Gan reaping two and Rosano one, mostly from counterattacks and some good fortune on the defensive end. Levantinista UD of the Spanish V.59 then clocked them 3-2, as right winger Pocho Hermoso found a 65th minute winner during a tight and tactical second half.
Grilled International were swept as the shortcomings of their patchwork midfield were exploited by their opponents, with
Phua Li Kong's considerable experience not being sufficient to compensate. Colombian Homegrown League V.204 winners Los Pollitos Recerdos began with a 5-3 win driven by burly forward Edwin Quirama, who made the ageing
Stef Vreys look woefully underequipped.
Mohsen Zeynali did score a second-minute cracker with
Mikhail Romashov reliable from the spot, but Pollitos' second wind after
Waldemar Gołata made it 2-3 was far too strong.
French VI.879 club MedocPower then won 3-1 as their three-man backline mostly held firm against disjointed International attacks, which brought only a 61st minute
Sazali bin Hj Mursidi finish on solo work by
Khosrov Danelyan. That cancelled out Clément Charlot's opener, but strikes by Tobias Andreas Petrikowsky and Eberhart Troostwijk soon arrived as Grilled International forgot to defend.
Equatorial Guinea III.5 competitors Team Sunski's boldklub then compounded their misery with a 4-1 thrashing, with Italian defender Salvatore Perugini doing much of the heavy lifting with a brace - having just been sent off for a horror tackle on Real Sopupeli CF's Sopheap Pen. The long-suffering
Phua Li Kong got International's consolation in the 25th minute, with
Mikhail Romashov being unlucky in striking the crossbar and then having the follow-up saved.
