Pachyderms 0 - 2 Grilled
Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and
Sam's Pachyderms Arena saw a crowd turnout of 4886.
Nello Mattesini was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Vladislav Škunca and
Jani Laitila. The following players had been chosen by Pachyderms:
Kalou -
Karamé,
Denifl,
Serigba,
Dułecki,
Vasco -
Desjardins,
Rajamäki,
Dao,
Sanogo -
Kandji.
Grilled's starters:
Salmiņš -
Webb,
Panigrahi -
Kamel,
Xin Seng,
Jeftić,
Mohammad Harun,
Chuan Yong -
Egan,
Ze Han,
Parvathaneni.
Sam's Pachyderms fielded a 5-4-1 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was 2-5-3. Grilled clearly preferred using their divine (+7) (27) ability to attack in the middle. 16 minutes into the match, Grilled nearly took the lead, as
Moey Xin Seng broke through on the right.
Sami Kalou made the save, however. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 22 minutes allowed
Chan Ze Han to score for Grilled. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. With the scoreboard showing that 23 minutes had been played, Grilled nearly put themselves up another goal after
Bilal Mohammad Harun came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. 27 minutes in, Grilled's
Bhavya Panigrahi received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With 31 minutes played, after a good run down the left,
Yedes Sanogo went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. The Pachyderms coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Pachyderms manager used a brief break in play after 40 minutes to give the players new directives. It was 0 - 1 at the break. Grilled enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 70 percent of possession.
Grilled had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. The visitors'
Kalki Parvathaneni took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 54 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for Grilled.
Bernie Egan made a quick rush after 75 minutes, but
Samba Vasco had no problems keeping up the pace and stopped the attack. Just a few inches to the right, and the visitors could have had a goal 83 minutes into the match.
Mateja Jeftić surely wishes he could do that free kick over again. Grilled were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. The home crowd cheered when, after 87 minutes,
Chan Ze Han's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. As the match nears its end, the referee has deemed it appropriate to add 1 minute as stoppage time. The match ends 0 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Grilled, who controlled the ball 76 percent of the time.
The most dominating Pachyderms player was without a doubt
Yedes Sanogo. On the other hand,
Alban Serigba's play was disheartening.
Chan Ze Han performed admirably for Grilled. However,
Teo Chuan Yong made a disastrous appearance.