Encouraging Signs
Grilled's attack picked up as they entered the middle part of the Trophy of Legends, with
Kalki Parvathaneni and
Chan Ze Han both averaging a goal a game in this stretch. It began against Austrian fifth division CF Wetzelsdorf, who took the lead through Tristan Faucon's elegant tenth minute swing, only for that to be matched by Kalki several minutes later.
Yuta Nakakita's scrappy effort off a corner then set the stage for a second-half Chan brace. It ended 4-2.
Romania's mat star likewise fell to a hard-pushing Grilled by two goals to three, though Kazimierz Talik distunguished himself at leftback, finishing twice on the breakout. Remaining in Eastern Europe, the Birds then drew 3-3 with Polish Division Five club Fuzja Bydgoszcz, as Chan and Kalki orchestrated a big rally, after they had gone down to an Adrian Wiełoch brace. Guillaume Manouvrier would however save Bydgoszcz with a dinky clip over a still-settling
Massoud Dob, fifteen minutes before the end.
Farmer Bunnies finally met their match in their fifth game of the Heroes of 2014 Trophy, with Indonesian third division leaders Demang Lebar Daun out-hustling them to a 3-1 result. Beloved French forward and league top-scorer Steven Pichot opened with a studied feint and loft worthy of his "
Professor" nickname, and the Buns had to wait until the 79th minute, to answer through
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany.
The Buns would pick up where they left off against Romania's BlackSea, as
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany continued to exhibit his relentless pace, scoring twice and setting
Sofian Azfar up against the sixth division side. Luxembourg Division Three club Gendarme de Dudelange were rather tougher in defence, but they were up against a
Wong Ting Yew who was well in the mood, and lost 1-2.
International too recorded two wins and a defeat, starting brightly against French sixth division Desportivo FlorRevolta, who went down to two from open play by
Soo Kiong Yau, and then a delightful flick in the 50th minute by the creative
Wang Chu Chi. That put them in line for a hammering from Danish Division Six side AC Rufus, though, whose German captain Thorsten Timmann didn't play around, as he kept the heat on before finishing International personally with two of his own.
Once could understand if International preferred France a lot more after that, and they did get their prayers answered, with Île-de-France representatives Quodlibeterie coming their way. Quodlibeterie's attempts to operate on the counter were entirely optimistic, and International would rip them apart 6-1, their lone consolation coming via Erwan Suzanne.
