Weather conditions were fairly good for football at the stadium today. Lineup: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Webb - Chuan Yong, Xin Seng, ter Berg, Kamel, Parvathaneni - Mudaliar, Ze Han, Egan.

They fielded: Santos - Cao de Benos, Compain, pellegrino, Gomes - Należyta, Zambrano, Serrano, Morán Cabrera, Beltrán - Barbiroli.

Grilled Birds started the game in a 2-5-3 formation, whereas Alba Shingre lined up in a 4-5-1. Grilled went for a narrow approach, using their divine (+7) (27) ability to focus their attacks down the middle. A magnificent (12) level of counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Shingre. Grilled's Kalki Parvathaneni tried to break through the middle repeatedly, but the visitors' defenders were just too alert. After 11 minutes, Shingre surprised their opponents with a breakaway counter-attack. The defenders had to resort to a foul to stop it. The resulting free kick was a clever indirect combination that took the ball past the defenders, but too far wide, and the cross was cut out well by the keeper. Shingre took the lead 25 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. Stéphane Compain was the scorer. Juan Cao de Benos really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great flick by Waldemar Należyta after a corner. 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. A series of fine plays up the middle should have led to a goal for Grilled, but Teo Chuan Yong's shot went over the bar. Big paper red cards were being held up by the opposing supporters with 29 minutes on the clock after Bhavya Panigrahi's mistimed tackle from behind. The referee only showed the Grilled player a yellow card though. After 33 minutes of play, Vikram Mudaliar evened things up for Grilled with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 1 - 1. A beautiful, arcing corner kick from Vincenzo Barbiroli found Waldemar Należyta at the far post, soaring to meet the ball. The keeper is late and he's headed it in for 1 - 2! 35 minutes into the match, Kevin Beltrán came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. The crowd roared in delight as Chan Ze Han finished off a spectacular series of plays up the middle to even the score for Grilled after 38 minutes. 2 - 2. 2 - 2 was the halftime score. Grilled had the upper hand in possession, maintaining an impressive 57 percent possession of the ball.

46 minutes into the game, Shingre wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Vincenzo Barbiroli gave Marcus Jansson a quick hug as he left the field. With Vincenzo Barbiroli no longer on the field, Juan Cao de Benos was the new set pieces taker. As the 60 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. Salah Kamel reluctantly made way for Bilal Mohammad Harun. Many thought Bernie Egan ought to have been awarded a penalty 60 minutes into the match, as he went down trying to beat Ricardo Nuno Santos after an attack through the middle gave him the one-on-one opportunity. Grilled had a chance to take the lead after Bernie Egan's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled away as his shot went just over the bar with 64 minutes played. The game had been going for 65 minutes when Bernie Egan came in on the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to put away the 3 - 2 goal, giving Grilled the lead. With the clock showing 70 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Kalki Parvathaneni looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong), though he would have liked to continue. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune... Chan Ze Han launched that one from the deep reaches of space, but accurately knocked it in for Grilled! 4 - 2. Say hello to Voyager! 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. Shingre breathed new life into the game with an attempt to reduce the lead after 89 minutes, but the home side's defenders cleared the ball off the line, after a long shot coming in from the left rebounded off the crossbar. The match ends 4 - 2. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 58 percent of possession.

Most important Grilled player was Chan Ze Han. Speaking of stinking up the place, Teo Chuan Yong sure smelled like the bottom of Batman's shoe after a night of crimefighting in Gotham. Shingre's top performer was clearly Marcus Jansson. Good thing Juan Cao de Benos isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance.