The Goals Keep Coming
Eren Serpin might have warned of a post-season dip, but his players evidently had other ideas, as they kept on truckin' without missing a beat in the Supporter Week Trophy. Four wins out of four left the club 371th of 24532 contestants after the first day of the tournament, which the Birds started with a
Chu Xin Lee hat-trick, in a 7-0 wipeout of Swiss Division Six team ValenciaCity.
Wu Jinglong then began to reveal his scoring chops too, sneaking the opener in against an obdurate Hérisson FC, who had recently relegated to the French sixth division. That would finally break the spell of Fabrice Cherrier in goal, and
Salah Kamel would follow suit from a counter, and
Moey Xin Seng as usual from a corner. There was even leeway for
Mateja Jeftić to waste a penalty, and Chu would keep his streak going, before Stéphane Poirot found Hérisson FC's at the death.
It would be Wu who would make it three in a row - together with Moey - though, as he made another successful incursion down the right, 13 minutes in against Polish Division Five club Manchuria AFC;
Mateja Jeftić would convert his spot kick on this occasion, and Loann Lemarchand sent off in another 4-1 win. The fourth and toughest fixture would be against English third division side Retro All Stars, but the Birds prevailed 4-3, with Wu moving into the middle for his strike this time.
Chan Ze Han gave his new teammate close to full points for his contributions thus far. "I think our wingers and fullbacks hated to have to deal with Jinglong when he was with Fringeheads, and I'm just relieved he's on our side now. He is capable of so much, that it's easy to forget what he can pull off in the thick of a match."
Farmer Bunnies for their part managed two wins and a draw, with the 2-2 at Helgaaaa hat jetzt nen Fußballclub of the Liechtenstein third division coming first.
Vishnu Tallapaka and
Brendan Leung seemed to have set the Buns on the road to victory, though by their more conventional approach, as opposed to Kostadinović's purported experiments with long-ranged shooting. The pink-clad DieHelgars would claw themselves back, however, with two goals in two very eventful minutes from Nigul Valing and Rens Lastman.
Victories against Swiss Division Six club Whitecaps Fc and multiple-time Liechtenstein Fürstliche Liga champs Swedish Army FC came next, with the Buns relying on raw speed to defeat Whitecaps 3-0, through
Vishnu Tallapaka and a
Mushtag Al-Nameeri brace. As for Swedish Army FC, their glory days might be some distance behind them after six major national trophies, but they remained hardly easy to take down, with
Djoko Tambusai forcing a 69th minute winner, after Gian Franco Margio had equalized
Nurlan Ablaev's second-chance shot from a corner.
There would then be a 1-2 loss to Chilean fifth divisioners Coyhaique S.A, with
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany's second-half reducer not enough to match early goals from Håkan Larsson and Rjab Ferjani, and the supporters were frank in recognizing that an overhaul was long overdue, despite Kostadinović's tactical improvisations. "Let's face it, this isn't working." graduate student Brad Bo said. "We could probably stay in Division Three, but anything more would be a struggle."
Grilled International got off on the wrong foot, as they were dealt a 1-6 spanking by fellow H.I. Division Five side Beer County Football Club. The Scots were actually not all that superior, but several great defensive interventions - coupled by a complete lack of the same from International - contributed to the lopsided scoreline.
Fausto Perono did at least get through in the 50th minute, to spare some blushes.
Three big wins did follow, the first a 5-3 over United Arab Emirates III.2 team GVG United, whose Finnish youngster Roman Yankovich had perhaps the best game of his career thus far. His brace would however be matched by some great shooting from
Osertz Indurain, and International coped well with
Tibor Atzenhain's second yellow in the 63rd minute, to close the game out with goals by
Didi Reidenbach and
Ragib Banović.
Chua Jun Long would get the nod for centre forward with Atzenhain's suspension versus Brazilian sixth divisioners rodrigo tunas, but it would be Banović and
Safari bin Hj Jali who stole the show with hat-tricks in a 7-0 drubbing. Banović, Safari and Perono would continue with the status quo at Illinois-based American V.60 club Arsenal 1886 FC, where they dominated in a 6-0 triumph.
