The rain was pouring down at the stadium today. The wet pitch made it difficult for technical or quick players to stand out. For once, the players relying on physical strength gained the upper hand. The following players had been selected: Estlin - Sinyushkin, Overgaard - Gérard, Király, Fimberg, Csorvás, Garaicoa - Illés, Buchard, Träff.

Starters: Dob - Panigrahi, Jeftić - Chuan Yong, Ze Han, Mohammad Harun, Kamel, Xin Lee - Mudaliar, Xin Seng, Egan.

The coaches were in sync today, as both teams lined up in a 2-5-3 formation. One of many good passes from Teo Chuan Yong at the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by Vikram Mudaliar, scoring the 0 - 1 goal for Grilled. After 16 minutes, Grilled's Moey Xin Seng burst through the central defense and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. Rustenstorken's Iñaki Garaicoa sliced towards the middle after 22 minutes, receiving a sensational pass and carving through the visiting team's central defense, putting the goal away to make it 1 - 2. A bit of trash talk erupted into a fight as players from both sides congregated in the center of the field 27 minutes into the match. After separating the two sides, the referee and his linesman discussed the scurrilous chain of events - this eventually led to the referee calling Rustenstorken's Iñaki Garaicoa to one side and giving him a straight red card. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Grilled did a good job holding on to the ball, with 57 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

With 50 minutes played, Rustenstorken's Evgeniy Sinyushkin received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. 70 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Gilbert Webb came on for Bhavya Panigrahi. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defense 70 minutes into the match, an alert Otwald Buchard poked the ball past the keeper, bringing Rustenstorken level at 2 - 2. After 78 minutes, Grilled's Bernie Egan made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time, they welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 2 - 3. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 57 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Rustenstorken's best player was Lee Estlin. I can't remember Sergo Fimberg ever having a worse night than he just had. The most outstanding Grilled player was without a doubt Vikram Mudaliar. Good thing Teo Chuan Yong isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance.