iv id="matchReport"> 3365 spectators had found their way to the best in the world Arena, despite the heavy rain. Thierry Gillet was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Andrey Kulinchenko and Arsène Collas. The pitch was a disaster, due to all the rain. This spelled problems for the more sophisticated players, who usually could rely on speed or technique. For those relying on grit and strength, it actually meant an edge. The match took place on neutral ground. Lineup: Dob - Trung Quá, 入江 (Irie) - Davlatov, Ze Han, Mudaliar, Parvathaneni, Webb - Muthyala, Mohammad Harun, Xin Seng.

Starters: Yi Chang - Notarnicola, Viazzo - Albertario, Burghgraaff, Al-Rashdy, Bollinger, Velázquez - O'Driscoll, Iolea, Wuthrich.

2-5-3 was the choice of the day for both coaches. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle, taking advantage of their titanic level with that tactic. The home crowd was not impressed by the fancy moves of ~Pollen~'s Lilian Iolea after 8 minutes. He converted a pass from the left for a goal, resulting in the visitors taking the 0 - 1 lead. Grilled tried to even things up by sending a long ball towards the centrally placed strikers, but the visitors' defence got the best of this rather direct style of play. Bilal Mohammad Harun" class="homeplayer">Bilal Mohammad Harun rose like a salmon, and was very close to scoring with a header after a corner, but sent the ball just over the bar. Ramy Mansoor Al-Rashdy looked like he could fly, as he rose high to head the ball. Unfortunately for ~Pollen~, the ball went just barely wide. José Victor Velázquez came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over Massoud Dob but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. Wicher Burghgraaff of ~Pollen~ took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 31 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to ~Pollen~, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

The bench was restless, and with 46 minutes passed Grilled's coach gave Chu Xin Lee" class="homeplayer">Chu Xin Lee the opportunity the player had been hoping for. Islom Davlatov reluctantly left the field. After 56 minutes, Wicher Burghgraaff sent the corner kick right to Ramy Mansoor Al-Rashdy who headed it sharply past the keeper. 0 - 3! Grilled needed a fresh pair of legs on the field, and after 60 minutes 雄輝 (Yuki) 入江 (Irie) made way for Remco van der Ban. Some fine movement on the left led to a ~Pollen~ goal after 68 minutes, making it 0 - 4. Melchior Wuthrich was noted down as the scorer. With 70 minutes played, Moey Xin Seng" class="homeplayer">Moey Xin Seng of Grilled fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. With 73 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed José Victor Velázquez of ~Pollen~ to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 5. With 80 minutes played, the Grilled coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. Leong Wan Kang came on, Neeraj Muthyala had to leave the fray. 84 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 6 as Ramy Mansoor Al-Rashdy finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time they, nonetheless, welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 0 - 6. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by ~Pollen~, with 60 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Grilled player was without a doubt Moey Xin Seng" class="homeplayer">Moey Xin Seng. On the other hand, Remco van der Ban's play was disheartening. Lilian Iolea performed admirably for ~Pollen~. Alessandro Notarnicola turned in a dismal performance, however.