iv id="matchReport"> Due to an all-day shower, 2832 paying spectators got to see the game on a field-turned-swamp at The Cooking Pot. Martin Johansson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ali Benzeş and Llamil Erza Dezotti. Gentlemen prefer blondes and Grilled prefers a 3-5-2. Let's see how this plays out for them. Lineup: Seng - Bakhtiar, bin Ahmad, Filippone - Ping Shun, Xin Seng, Parvathaneni, Muthyala, Isufi - Wan Kang, Jing Wei.

Our studio analysts were correct. Demoni has taken the field in a 5-4-1 alignment. They fielded: Rocco - Biarnés, Lomazzo, Zumkehr, Bertollo, Pische - Seggioli, Anselmo, Arcesilai, Albiero - Cassizzi.

Grilled displayed their ability to play creatively. Demoni mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their magnificent ability to attack in the middle. After a fine move down the middle R. bin Ahmad nearly put the home side one up with 30 minutes played. His final touch escaped him though and the keeper smothered the ball. Grilled's R. Isufi showed his experience, anticipating the outcome of his opponent's defensive clearance and positioning himself perfectly to strike an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box. 1 - 0. With 42 minutes played, R. Isufi could have brought this one home for Grilled as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. The visitors got just what they'd been looking for after 43 minutes when E. Lomazzo received a pass from the left and buried it in the bottom corner, leveling it at 1 - 1. The crowd gasped as M. Albiero of Demoni was flattened by an opponent after 43 minutes and had to be helped off the field. C. Rinaldo hopped from the bench to replace him. After 44 minutes, Grilled's G. Filippone successfully broke up a pass with his face. Instinctively, he got up again only to unintentionally use his now-throbbing schnozz to break up a second pass. As he was carted off for a concussion check, R. van der Ban ran onto the field to take his place. Halftime score was 1 - 1. The Count appeared on the jumbotron and announced that Grilled had 77...77 percent possession. AH AH AH!

With the clock showing 46 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Z. Jing Wei looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for M. bin Mohd Kassim, though he would have liked to continue. Grilled were very close to putting themselves one up with 56 minutes gone as R. van der Ban got through on the left, but a lapse in concentration sent the ball wide. Grilled had a good opportunity to take the lead as R. Isufi came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of V. Rocco. W. Ping Shun had a grin on his face as he raced past the weaker players, nearly oblivious to the rain. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 after 79 minutes of hard work with a breakthrough from H. Bakhtiar, who, all by his lonesome, came out of the right wing and hooked the ball over the visitors' keeper. R. van der Ban gave Grilled supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 1 after 80 minutes, following a good exchange of passes on the right that the away team failed to deal with. The match ends 3 - 1. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 73 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Grilled's top performer was clearly M. bin Mohd Kassim. Good thing H. Bakhtiar isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. The most outstanding Demoni player was without a doubt C. Rinaldo. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because D. Zumkehr seemed to stumble all over the pitch.