The fans at the stadium today were roasting in the hot sun. The intense heat made it hard for players relying on strength or speed to shine. On the other hand, it provided perfect conditions for the more technical players. Lineup: Dob - Webb, Panigrahi - Egan, Muthyala, Xin Seng, Mohammad Harun, Parvathaneni - Mudaliar, Ze Han, Xin Lee.

Starters: Grubenmann - Leng Teck, Agyei, Mohd Jafni, Tallapaka, Yun Jie - Azfar, Camperio, Chang Wan - Al-Nameeri, Ablaev.

Grilled Birds trundled out to the pitch in a 2-5-3 formation. The visitors, Farmer Bunnies, chose to start the game with a 5-3-2 lineup. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, using their divine (+4) ability to great effect. Using their divine counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Bunnies today. Bilal Mohammad Harun seemed to be defying gravity as he elegantly headed in a goal for Grilled after a corner kick that was nicely executed by Bhavya Panigrahi. That makes it 1 - 0. Chu Xin Lee should probably have put his team up another goal after 34 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by Vivian Grubenmann kept the visitors in the game. It was obvious that Grilled had instructions to attack in the middle when they directed a break on the wing into the center of the park. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Grilled's Chu Xin Lee bringing the lead up to 2 - 0. With 41 minutes played, Grilled's Kalki Parvathaneni received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. 43 minutes into the game Bunnies managed a counter-attack, but Billy Camperio took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 0. Nikki Minaj appeared on the Jumbotron wearing pink lipstick, a towering pile of platinum-white hair, and a pair of soccer balls. After 46 minutes, the Bunnies coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Billy Camperio off. Christophe Fouche took his place. Things were going from bad to worse for the visitors. Bilal Mohammad Harun was able to squirm through the central defense after 57 minutes and score, bringing the lead to 3 - 0. After 62 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by Moey Xin Seng might have resulted in another goal for Grilled. However, Vivian Grubenmann made a spectacular save. Bunnies's Nurlan Ablaev scored a screamer after 78 minutes, made possible by a deep pass from Richard Agyei which cut through the entire defensive line. That's 3 - 1. As the 80 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. Bernie Egan reluctantly made way for Heng Dong Chu. With the clock showing 80 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Nurlan Ablaev looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany, though he would have liked to continue. With 81 minutes gone, a long pass from the defense of Bunnies resulted in a counter-attack that set Mushtag Al-Nameeri free through the middle, but the keeper made a spectacular diving save. With the match clock reading 84 minutes, the inexperienced Grilled team fell into disarray. It was announced by the fourth official that he estimated stoppage time to be around 2 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! Bilal Mohammad Harun saw that the keeper was out and shot from an incredible distance 89 minutes in. Unfortunately for Grilled, the ball skimmed the crossbar and went over. The match ends 3 - 1. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 74 percent of possession.

Grilled's best player was Chan Ze Han. Good thing Bhavya Panigrahi isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. Bunnies's top performer was clearly Tham Leng Teck. Even six year old fans were wincing at the poor play by Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany today.