The crowd turning up at the stadium today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. For strong, physical players the heavy rain was easy to overcome, it was even an advantage given their style of play. Others, such as the quick or technical ones, made bleaker appearances. Starters: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Jeftić - Chuan Yong, Xin Seng, Mohammad Harun, Kamel, Parvathaneni - Mudaliar, Ze Han, Egan.

The following players had been selected: Almograbi - Krieger, Miret, Ziegenhagen - Meinke, Kohlus, Zammarian, Golcü, Neupert - Becker, Golovaschenko.

The teams had chosen different formations for the match. The home team, Grilled Birds, went for a 2-5-3, while Treptower Traktor has decided to play a 3-5-2 lineup. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their divine (+7) (27) ability to attack in the middle. Kliment Golovaschenko of Treptower finished off the counter-attack from the left rather easily, making it 0 - 1. The visitors' Kliment Golovaschenko took advantage of a mix-up between the home side's goalie and center backs 11 minutes into the match. 0 - 2 for Treptower. The referee showed Treptower's Oğuz Atalay Golcü the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 29 minutes, Treptower's Giocondo Zammarian burst through the central defense and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. 0 - 3 was the score after the first half. Grilled did a good job holding on to the ball, with 53 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

After 46 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Kalki Parvathaneni off. 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong) took his place. Peter 'Wadenbeißer' Krieger was, after 48 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the center, but the home side's keeper Jānis Salmiņš made the save. The home crowd did not lose faith and cheered their team on as they strove to get back into the game. The fans were rewarded after 51 minutes when 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong) burst forward, 5-holed the central defender and then mischievously lobbed the ball over the advancing goalie to make the score 1 - 3. Definitely a SportsCenter Top 10 candidate – DA-DA-DA! DA-DA-DA! With the clock showing 60 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Bhavya Panigrahi looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Gilbert Webb, though he would have liked to continue. 70 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Kalle ter Berg came on for Bilal Mohammad Harun. A thrilling play through the middle after 70 minutes gave Treptower's Kliment Golovaschenko a chance to increase the lead, and he happily obliged. The score was then 1 - 4. One, two, three goals! That completed a hattrick for Kliment Golovaschenko. AH! AH! AH! The home crowd was briefly mollified when Chan Ze Han reduced the lead to 2 - 4 after a brilliant midfield give-and-go through the middle. Gilbert Webb was ever so close to scoring after an excellent corner was perfectly redirected by Kalle ter Berg, but the ball went off the post and out. Treptower's Gunter Becker received a ball slotted perfectly through the home side's central defense after 76 minutes, and chipped it past the helpless keeper to increase the lead to 2 - 5. The away fans won't regret traveling for this one! After 81 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Marcel 'The Rock' Kohlus who increased Treptower's lead to 2 - 6. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 3 beyond the regular 90 minutes. The match ends 2 - 6. 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. Most important Grilled player was Chan Ze Han. I can't remember Teo Chuan Yong ever having a worse night than he just had. Treptower's best player was Gunter Becker. Good thing Alfredo Miret isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance.