Not Nearly Enough
Despite preserving their undefeated streak in the Supporter Week Trophy tournament, as they finished with seven wins and three draws, 24 points was ultimately insufficient for Grilled Birds to finish within the top sixty-four teams and proceed to the knock-out stages.
Even that might not have come to be after both
Gene Filippone and
Ling Fuquan got themselves dismissed late on against French Division Four club MaccabiGiantJoc, but the Birds incredibly managed to widen their lead to 3-1 despite that, as they battered their opponents in lieu of trying to defend.
Hariharan Prabhu and
Clark Won exceeded expectations as auxiliary centrebacks in the next match against Balla coi Gufi, of the Italian third division, and the 6-2 scoreline meant that Grilled retained the faintest of hopes entering the final round.
C.A. Mucho Huevo, freshly relegated from the Campeonato Uruguayo, would however hold Grilled to a 4-4 draw, but in any case, the fixture wound up being a dead rubber as 27 points wound up being the cutoff. The transfer-listed
Woon Shun An put himself in the shop window with the Birds' first and last goals of that game, a tally which Huevo's New Zealand striker Rodger Tarlow matched.
Djan Bacelar declared himself pleased with Grilled's overall display, if slightly disappointed that they had missed out. "317th is a respectable placing out of over 27000 participants, and we could have gone further with a bit of luck. Kudos to Be Champions FC for qualifying - it goes without saying that there will be some scouting ahead of our league curtain-raiser!"
Farmer Bunnies for their part ended with a 2-1-7 record, giving them seven points and a -27 goal difference. They were beaten 1-3 by Finnish Division Six side Lemmemmäki United FC after the suddenly-prolific
Ron Murrell put them in front against the run of play, and then lost narrowly by the odd goal to the similarly-setup Australian Division Five club Busso Possums. A one-all draw that peaked early, against Scottish Division Five AC Kirkcaldy, was their swansong.
