It was a cloudy day at the stadium today. Starters: Salmiņš - Carapaica, Lunde - Kamel, Chuan Yong, Xin Lee, Mohammad Harun, Dong Chu - Ze Han, Egan, Xin Seng.

Lineup: Volčina - Khachidze, Trnka, Venero - Guedes Costa, Bigodes, Morasso, Museveni, Pronovost - Aguilante, Llompart.

Grilled Birds started the game in a 2-5-3 formation, whereas Worldwide Kickers 2017 lined up in a 3-5-2. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, using their divine (+6) (26) ability to great effect. Worldwide's Eliott Pronovost gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 28 minutes with a superb strike from the right. 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. David Aguilante looked around after sending his opponent to the ground to realize he was the last man. That's called denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and the Worldwide player was sent off after 31 minutes. Julián Llompart was handed the Worldwide captain's armband. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 54 percent possession in this half was spot on!

46 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Vikram Mudaliar came on for Bernie Egan. 46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Salah Kamel gave Kalki Parvathaneni a quick hug as he left the field. The crowd roared in delight as Chu Xin Lee finished off a spectacular series of plays up the middle to even the score for Grilled after 61 minutes. 1 - 1. Worldwide took the lead 69 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. Ismael Venero was the scorer. The home crowd was not impressed when Adruzilo Guedes Costa came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 75 minutes. Worldwide were now up 1 - 3. With 78 minutes gone, Worldwide's organization began to suffer due to a lack of experience. Douglas Carapaica challenged the visitors' central defense eagerly, producing a good chance 79 minutes into the game as he raced for a through ball. But, like so many times before, the guests' defensive positioning was just too good. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 2 beyond the regular 90 minutes. The match ends 1 - 3. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 56 percent of possession.

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