Weather conditions were fairly good for football at the stadium today. The following players had been selected: Habič - Dobrotinšek, Racolţa, Bin-Lateef, Gileski, Javorov - Klobušický, Al-Amrany, Cornu - Meija, Raes.

Lineup: Salmiņš - Carapaica, Webb - Kamel, Chuan Yong, Xin Lee, Mohammad Harun, Dong Chu - Ze Han, Egan, Xin Seng.

It was to be a contest between two different football philosophies, since the home team started the game with a 5-3-2 formation while the visitors instead opted for a 2-5-3. Like the adage Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their divine (+6) (26) ability to attack in the middle. Grilled took the lead 5 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. Bernie Egan was the scorer. Grilled's Chan Ze Han was a tricksy little hobbit and made poor Raed Nadir Al-Amrany look like he had lost his precious. Turns out the precious was in the back of the net - 0 - 2! The ball was in the back of the home team's net yet again after 15 minutes, but this time the referee called the goal back because Bilal Mohammad Harun had knocked a member of the opposing team to the ground while the play occurred down the middle of the field. With 20 minutes played, NKCZ's Damjan Gileski received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. A thrilling play through the middle after 24 minutes gave Grilled's Chu Xin Lee a chance to increase the lead, and he happily obliged. The score was then 0 - 3. Yanis Cornu dispatched a majestic long shot 29 minutes in, but missed the goal by a few yards. 0 - 3 was the score after the first half. 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. 46 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Vikram Mudaliar came on for Bernie Egan. With the clock showing 46 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Salah Kamel looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Kalki Parvathaneni, though he would have liked to continue. Teo Chuan Yong's long shot really ought to have found the net for Grilled after 47 minutes, but it fell just wide of the target. NKCZ almost scored after a swift counter-attack 48 minutes into the game, but Gabriel Klobušický put the shot from the left flank just outside the frame. Moey Xin Seng was, after 63 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 Boštjan Habič made the save. The referee showed NKCZ's Viorel Racolţa the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 77 minutes into the match, NKCZ's Joakim Raes chased down a ball sent down the right and put it into the back of the net, narrowing the score to 1 - 3. With 82 minutes played, Chu Xin Lee nearly put the visitors up by one more as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot whizzed just over the bar. The game had been going for 83 minutes when Moey Xin Seng broke through on the right, upping the score to 1 - 4 for Grilled, much to the home crowd's dismay. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 2 beyond the regular 90 minutes. The match ends 1 - 4. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 75 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Damjan Gileski performed admirably for NKCZ. I can't remember Boštjan Habič ever having a worse night than he just had. Grilled's top performer was clearly Chan Ze Han. Even six year old fans were wincing at the poor play by Kalki Parvathaneni today.