Clear skies welcomed the spectators who had made their way to the stadium today. Starters: Sassone - Moratti, Vasić, Saint, Vellutini, Ibaceta - Gómez, Pein, Complak, Boyko, Farmani -.

The following players took the field: Dob - Webb, Panigrahi - 敬龙 (Jinglong), Ze Han, ter Berg, Kamel, Dong Chu - Parvathaneni, Xin Seng, Egan.

World Marbles Federation fielded a 5-5-0 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was a 2-5-3. Marbles preferred to use their divine (+2) (22) ability to bomb away from a distance - not unlike Steph Curry. A formidable (9) level of counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Grilled. 4 minutes into the game, Salah Kamel was a hair's width away from giving Grilled the lead with a shot from the left. A timely dive by Juan Cruz Sassone saved the home team on this occasion. With 5 minutes played, Marbles's Iraj Farmani received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. Marbles's slick passing moves completely confused the defense after 15 minutes, but thanks to Massoud Dob's miraculous save from Jacobo Gómez's long shot the score remained unchanged. Some beautiful play by Marbles put Iraj Farmani in a good position to shoot from distance after 23 minutes, but Massoud Dob made a great save on the low hard shot. Grilled took the lead 28 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. Heng Dong Chu was the scorer. Kazimierz Complak held up a Marbles attack after 39 minutes, waited until Cristoph Pein was in shooting position, and then elegantly set him up. Cristoph Pein didn't disappoint his teammates, and from a long way out he curled the ball around the keeper with precision making it 1 - 1. With 41 minutes played Kazimierz Complak almost gave the home side the lead with a clever free kick, but the visitors' Massoud Dob was onto it, grabbing the would-be breakthrough ball. 43 minutes into the game Grilled managed a counter-attack, but Chan Ze Han took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Marbles did a good job holding on to the ball, with 54 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 58 minutes into the match left Grilled's Salah Kamel completely free to score. 1 - 2 for the visitors. Grilled's Bernie Egan rushed past his defender and should have scored, but the finish was just wide, taking some paint off the post as it went out. With the clock showing 74 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Grilled resulted in a counter-attack that was smoothly brought under control by Chan Ze Han in the center of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. Proving that a foot massage and a pre-game pedicure can work wonders, Kazimierz Complak sent a rocket into the box from the corner, finding Pasquale Moratti, who headed it past the keeper with extreme prejudice. 77 minutes in and it's 2 - 2! With the clock showing 80 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Heng Dong Chu looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Cyril Künzler, though he would have liked to continue. Marbles succeeded with their tactics after 82 minutes by faking a cross into the penalty area, but instead passing short to the side for a waiting Sisto Vellutini who met the ball directly with his muscular right leg. The keeper got his hands to the hard long shot, but it wasn't enough to stop it from going in. 3 - 2. 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! After 90 minutes Marbles showed the crowd a glorious passing play which put Jovan Vasić in a perfect shooting position. His low hard shot was just as delightful, placed just inside the keeper's right post making it 4 - 2. The match ends 4 - 2. Marbles had the upper hand in possession, maintaining an impressive 55 percent possession of the ball.

Juan Cruz Sassone performed admirably for Marbles. Speaking of stinking up the place, Jovan Vasić sure smelled like the bottom of Batman's shoe after a night of crimefighting in Gotham. Grilled's top performer was clearly Moey Xin Seng. Good thing Bhavya Panigrahi isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance.