The weather was pretty good at the stadium today for the match. The following players had been selected: Montague - Przewoźniak, Laratore, Imbalzano, Radoveanu, Bezner - Cannelli, Madrid, Schwender, Anăstăsoaie, Zweibrücken -.

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

It was to be a contest between two different football philosophies, since the home team started the game with a 5-5-0 formation while the visitors instead opted for a 2-5-3. Like this humble reporter trying to score a date with Charlotte McKinney, Phoenix enjoyed the Long Shots today, demonstrating their divine (+1) (21) skill at it. Grilled went for a narrow approach, using their divine (+7) (27) ability to focus their attacks down the middle. 31 minutes into the game, Chan Ze Han almost gave the visitors the lead, as he chipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Phoenix focused on finding shooting opportunities from distance and after 40 minutes Domenic Zweibrücken fired off the big cannon, but the shot went sailing over the cross bar and almost cleared the stands! 0 - 0 was the score after the first half. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 57 percent of possession.

After 60 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Salah Kamel off. Kalle ter Berg took his place. As the 60 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. Teo Chuan Yong reluctantly made way for 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong). Grilled had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle instead. The visiting Mateja Jeftić was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 68 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. After 75 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Moey Xin Seng who increased Grilled's lead to 0 - 2. Phoenix's slick passing moves completely confused the defense after 78 minutes, but thanks to Jānis Salmiņš's miraculous save from Domenic Zweibrücken's long shot the score remained unchanged. After 79 minutes, Grilled's Vikram Mudaliar burst through the central defense and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. Phoenix's Andrei Radoveanu was shown a yellow card after 83 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Bernie Egan was, after 84 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 Kyle Montague made the save. Phoenix mounted an inspired counter-attack down the right wing after 85 minutes, but Cătălin Anăstăsoaie was unable to convert from short range. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 1 minutes of added time, they welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 0 - 3. Grilled had the upper hand in possession, maintaining an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

Benjamín Madrid performed admirably for Phoenix. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because Valerio Cannelli seemed to stumble all over the pitch. The most outstanding Grilled player was without a doubt Chan Ze Han. I can't remember Kalki Parvathaneni ever having a worse night than he just had.