The fans at the stadium today were roasting in the hot sun. It was a very hot day and some players suffered from this, especially those relying on tough physical play or a lot of fast runs. For the technical ones, on the other hand, this was ideal conditions. They fielded: Steinberg - Stenberg, Steinberg, Steinberg - Stenberg, Stenberg, Stenberg, Stenberg, Stenberg - Stenberg, Zumárraga.

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

Dicanio trundled out to the pitch in a 3-5-2 formation. The visitors, Grilled Birds, chose to start the game with a 2-5-3 lineup. Dicanio used their divine (+5) (25) ability to focus on getting players in position for long range shots. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their divine (+7) (27) ability to attack in the middle. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when Vikram Mudaliar was unable to give the visitors the go-ahead goal after his attack from the left in minute 4. Vikram Mudaliar raced down the wing after 19 minutes and managed to get through the defense, but he lost his footing and sent the cross out for a throw-in. It was obvious that Dicanio set up their play to get a shooter in position, and after 26 minutes they succeeded with their tactics when Glen 'Crackers' Stenberg found a hole in the defense and his long shot left the keeper without a chance. 1 - 0. The visitors wouldn't quit and after 31 minutes, Teo Chuan Yong evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 1 - 1. 34 minutes into the match, the Speedy Gonzalez-like Gösta 'Cracker' Stenberg easily outran Mateja Jeftić to knock in the 2 - 1 goal. Dicanio succeeded with their tactics after 36 minutes by faking a cross into the penalty area, but instead passing short to the side for a waiting Godot 'Cracker' Steinberg 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 - 1. Big paper red cards were being held up by the opposing supporters with 37 minutes on the clock after Kalki Parvathaneni's mistimed tackle from behind. The referee only showed the Grilled player a yellow card though. Halftime score was 3 - 1. The battle in midfield was tight, with possession split evenly between the teams.

Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Grilled, and they were successfully passing the ball from the wing into the middle at the behest of their coach. With 59 minutes played, Grilled showed they hadn't given up and were able to reduce the score to 3 - 2 when Vikram Mudaliar got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. Things were going from bad to worse for the visitors. Gary 'Crackers' Stenberg was able to squirm through the central defense after 63 minutes and score, bringing the lead to 4 - 2. 70 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Bhavya Panigrahi gave Gilbert Webb a quick hug as he left the field. The away team improved the scoreline to 4 - 3, as Bernie Egan was able to strike home thanks to a good play on the left 72 minutes into the match. A great save by keeper Manuel Vadalà with 73 minutes gone kept the visitors in the game after Glen 'Crackers' Stenberg struck from the left with a real cannonball. After 80 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Kalki Parvathaneni off. Heng Dong Chu took his place. The fourth official announced that there would be 2 minutes of stoppage time, giving fans a slim hope that their team could get one more attack in before this was all over. The match ends 4 - 3. Well, look at this! Cardi B is on the Enormotron in naught but giant sunglasses, red tassles, and a Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch tank top. I've not seen anything like it before. Dicanio's top performer was clearly Gerhard 'Cracker' Steinberg. Good thing Gösta 'Cracker' Stenberg isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. The most outstanding Grilled player was without a doubt Chan Ze Han. I can't remember Manuel Vadalà ever having a worse night than he just had.