Clear skies welcomed the spectators who had made their way to the stadium today. Starters: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Jeftić - Mohammad Harun, Xin Seng, ter Berg, Xin Lee, Parvathaneni - Mudaliar, Ze Han, Egan.

Lineup: Raffai - Kicheec, Devia, Reyes, Artusi - Hetesi, Perçin, Huefnagels, Vichev, Filev - Román.

Grilled Birds fielded a 2-5-3 lineup. For FC Silent Thunder, the formation of choice was a 4-5-1. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their divine (+8) (28) ability to attack in the middle. Thunder's game plan was to sit back and absorb the pressure, then use their extra-terrestrial (16) ability to break on the counter whenever possible. Against a lesser team, Grilled could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick combination after 15 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. Thunder's Andreas Huefnagels showed off his trademark ability to do the unexpected with a tricky pass after 16 minutes. Unfortunately, Edgar Román was startled by the play and scuffed the finish. Grilled had a good opportunity to take the lead as Bilal Mohammad Harun came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of Gergely Raffai. With 26 minutes played, Arsenio Devia knocked one home from a counter-attack down the right wing, making the score 0 - 1. The Grilled free kick 33 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But it was no mistake - Kalki Parvathaneni seemingly came out of nowhere and had miles of space to control the ball and pick his spot. That's 1 - 1! 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. Making his way up the middle after 38 minutes, Chan Ze Han almost managed to sneak a goal past the visitors' keeper, but Gergely Raffai was ready and blocked it to keep the score level. Grilled had a chance to take the lead after Moey Xin Seng's dazzling drive up the left, but the opportunity fizzled away as his shot went just over the bar with 39 minutes played. Thunder made a good counter-attacking move down the left 40 minutes into the game, and Roberto Artusi finished well for 1 - 2. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 61 percent of possession.

65 minutes into the game Grilled managed a counter-attack, but Chan Ze Han took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. 70 minutes into the game, Thunder wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Gergely Raffai gave Alex Frosi a quick hug as he left the field. Grilled's Chan Ze Han put his head on a fantastic ball lifted in from the left, and scored after 73 minutes to bring the teams level - 2 - 2. Bhavya Panigrahi was very close to giving Grilled the lead with an ingenious free kick routine after 76 minutes, but the ball just grazed the bar. Feeling like a boy about to meet his girlfriend's father for the first time, the inexperienced Thunder struggled to maintain their level of play after 77 minutes. Slack defending gave Grilled a chance to take the lead with 81 minutes played, but Bernie Egan's cross from the left flank was met gratefully by the opposition who cleared it to safety. Oğuz Perçin of Thunder finished off the counter-attack from the left rather easily, making it 2 - 3. Grilled's Bilal Mohammad Harun attempted to equalize 83 minutes into the game, coming in from the right, but the ball hit the post and the defense dealt with the rebound easily. It was announced by the fourth official that he estimated stoppage time to be around 2 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! The match ends 2 - 3. Grilled had the upper hand in possession, maintaining an impressive 61 percent possession of the ball.

Most important Grilled player was Chan Ze Han. Speaking of stinking up the place, Kalki Parvathaneni sure smelled like the bottom of Batman's shoe after a night of crimefighting in Gotham. Andreas Huefnagels performed admirably for Thunder. Good thing Bertalan Hetesi isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance.