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: Dirani - Lýðsson, Pittí, Zalavári - Pariset, Kotik, Ako, Leblay, Gilbo - Garcia, Parent.

The following players had been selected: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Lunde - ter Berg, Kamel, Mohammad Harun, Chuan Yong, Dong Chu - Xin Lee, Egan, Xin Seng.

The teams had chosen different formations for the match. The home team, F C Viry-Noureuil, went for a 3-5-2, while Grilled Birds has decided to play a 2-5-3 lineup. 15 minutes into the game, Chu Xin Lee had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. Sometimes you wonder why a defender wouldn't stay on his feet in a situation like that. Unfortunately for the home fans, the referee had no choice but to award the penalty 20 minutes into the game and Bhavya Panigrahi did his job, making it 0 - 1. An accurate cross from Grilled's Kalle ter Berg was met with a wonderful off-balance header from Salah Kamel, hitting the inside base of the post before curling up into the back of the net like a dog in front of a fire for 0 - 2. Sølve Lunde seemed to be defying gravity as he elegantly headed in a goal for Grilled after a corner kick that was nicely executed by Bhavya Panigrahi. That makes it 0 - 3. Chu Xin Lee dispatched a majestic long shot 38 minutes in, but missed the goal by a few yards. Halftime score was 0 - 3. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 57 percent possession in this half was spot on!

A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot from the right by Bernie Egan beat the keeper with 49 minutes played, preventing Grilled from going up another goal. As the 60 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. Heng Dong Chu reluctantly made way for 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong). The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when Béranger Garcia tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. However, Jānis Salmiņš was too alert for that! Some fine one-twos on the left led to a Grilled goal with 66 minutes gone, making it 0 - 4. Moey Xin Seng was noted down as the scorer. After more pushing and shoving than a pack of helicopter moms trying to get the last appointment for their snowflakes to see the Easter Bunny, Grilled's 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong) finally got himself booked for a foul. After 73 minutes, Grilled's Bilal Mohammad Harun burst through the central defense and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 5. Kalle ter Berg made one of his many fine passes from the wing into the middle with 74 minutes played. Salah Kamel went to the air and hit the ball firmly with his forehead for Grilled. 0 - 6. After the ball was lifted in from the left, 吴 (Wu) 敬龙 (Jinglong) was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 77 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. The visitors' Moey Xin Seng took advantage of a mix-up between the home side's goalie and center backs 78 minutes into the match. 0 - 7 for Grilled. 80 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Bernie Egan gave Vikram Mudaliar a quick hug as he left the field. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 3 minutes of added time, they welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 0 - 7. 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. The most outstanding F.C.V.N player was without a doubt Béranger Garcia. Good thing Rami Dirani isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. Most important Grilled player was Chu Xin Lee. I can't remember Bhavya Panigrahi ever having a worse night than he just had.