Crash And Burn
Grilled Birds might have been sitting pretty at 84th of over 26,000 clubs after a perfect first day, but it all came down on the second, as they managed but a single point from three matches. They might admittedly have been slightly unfortunate to concede two late goals against German II.4 team Motor Altenburg, which concluded that match at 5-5, after
Moey Xin Seng and
Bernie Egan appeared to have sealed a fifth straight triumph. Certainly, they would have remained well on course, had they simply gotten back to winning against the next club lined up against them - Pony Bravo of the Spanish third division.
Alas, it wasn't to be, as Pony Bravo won 3-2 despite leaving new major signing Kenan Güven on the bench. They had every right too, from how S$18 million-rated Julio Guerrero absolutely demolished Webb and Panigrahi, towards a hat-trick.
Neeraj Muthyala had a stellar showing too, as he pressed forward relentless from central midfield, but his two goals fell just short. With their chances of qualification all but over, the Birds would be below par against Kyrgyzstani national champions Tokson Erkek, who recovered from a bad mistake leading to
Bhavya Panigrahi's 20th minute opener, to prevail 4-2 with Polish captain Stanisław Linder leading by example.
Chan Ze Han had earned the dubious distinction of being exclusively man-marked throughout by Erkek's Eugeniusz Gzik, and Chan acknowledged that such came with the territory. "I'm slightly honoured, really."
Farmer Bunnies managed two wins out of three on this second day, starting with German H.I. fifth division side, TuS Haltern.
Brendan Leung's brace and
Mushtag Al-Nameeri's blazing lead goal had the Buns 3-0 up by half-time, and they saw little need to exert themselves further, though
Christophe Fouche did deign to get yellow-carded in the 50th minute. Yet another German team was up next, and the yellow-and-blues of IV.46 representatives Ahntracht Gelb Blau executed similar tactics to the Buns, and took full points to Indonesian wingman Nirwan Simanungkalit's lone strike.
The Buns returned to 3-0 against Norwegian Division Five champions Kauping, with Fouche giving them a solid base to build on, with his nonchalent header from
Tham Leng Teck's delivery, after 13 minutes.
Lau Chang Wan and Tham himself would complete the scoring late in the second half, as Kauping had no choice but to come out in strength to try for an equalizer.
Grilled International on the other hand got two losses and a win, as their initial comeback against Yemeni second division mainstays The bank crushers now also in Al Yaman ran out of steam early.
Fausto Perono put International 3-2 ahead right into the second half, after the Crushers had run up a 2-0 lead, but Reza Ehsanian and Lucas Leenknegt ensured that their team would take victory here.
International would then fare better against Mongolian Division Two club Perugia FC, who twice took the lead through Innokentiy Silich and then Vasil Spasov, before two International goals in the final eight minutes swung things their way. Alas, Luxembourg legends and seven-time national champions L'auberge espagnole were on another level altogether, and International could but surrender with a whimper, 0-4 against L'auberge's coterie of superstars.
