Far From Good Enough
The last day of the Supporter Week tournament was a reminder of just how unbalanced the team had become, as Grilled wound up with two defeats and a draw despite
Tian Yonghang and
Chow Ying Lee scoring four apiece. They both found the net against two-time Egyptian Emerald Challenger Cup winners and Dawry El Momtaz side The Dung Beatles, who prevailed 4-2, despite Tian lifting himself to a monster individual display. Current Egyptian national goalkeeper Ashraf Musa being on form might have had something to do with that.
Finnish Division Three club The Totis Club were run rather closer, but still edged it 5-4, after Chow's hat-trick goal had given the Birds a 4-3 lead in the 75th minute, and ensured that each of Grilled's three main forwards achieved the feat in this tournament. The wholly-domestic XI of Totis exhibited exceptional camaraderie, however, and reversed the result before full time.
While they were definitely not going to qualify for the knockout stages after those losses, Grilled were still aiming to finish with a win, but despite running up a 3-0 lead against German IV.14 side SG Dummquatscher, they would allow box-to-box midfielder Hendrik Lanninger to level it by the 79th minute, with goalscorers
Tian Yonghang and
Gene Filippone booked around that time.
In the end, the Birds' record would be six wins, three losses and a draw, a regression from the first edition, and one which skipper
Tian Yonghang felt was unavoidable. "We have been treading water for a bit, and many clubs are improving. The coaches think that a top-three finish in Division Two would be a realistic target, and from the evidence, I agree."
Farmer Bunnies managed the same third-day results, scoring a single goal in the process. They could have tied against Spanish Division Six Força Étienne, but let Gabriel-Cristian Nidelea steal it with a last-minute winner. Goalless drudgery continued against Moldovan Division Four club FC Zgorghinul, despite them having winger Ion Zadnipru sent off in the 40th minute.
The Buns then closed off with a 1-3 loss to German Division Eight Vorwärts Hutthurm 09, their lone consolation coming via
Enzo Paolo Panzarino free-kick. Lukas Mairhofer however struck two for Vorwärts, along with a penalty, for a rare dead-ball hat-trick.
