Fairly good weather for football at the stadium today. They fielded: Gazizov - Alves Silva, Moutinho, Salman - Ronsin, Bucur, Cascino, Károlyi - Văleanu, Căpriţă.

The following players had been selected: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Carapaica - Kannan, Chuan Yong, Parvathaneni, Xin Lee, Kamel - Ze Han, Mudaliar, Xin Seng.

B.I.R. started the game in a 3-4-2 formation, whereas Grilled Birds lined up in a 2-5-3. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, using their divine (+6) (26) ability to great effect. 20 minutes into the game, Moey Xin Seng had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. After 21 minutes, Grilled's Shekar Kannan made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. With 22 minutes played, B.I.R.'s Adrian Văleanu received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. 26 minutes into the game, B.I.R. seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable (6). After 27 minutes, Florian Bucur rushed down the middle past the away team's defenders to score the 1 - 1 goal. After 29 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as B.I.R. found themselves out of position and their organization level dropped to inadequate (5). Grilled had a good opportunity to score the go-ahead goal after a combination on the right but the home team's keeper Ahmed Gazizov saved Vikram Mudaliar's shot that was headed straight to the top corner. 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 Moey Xin Seng finally got himself booked for a foul. Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. 1 - 2 was the score after 36 minutes, when Grilled's Shekar Kannan cut through the central defense and pounded one in. Grilled's Kalki Parvathaneni was shown a yellow card after 37 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Adrian Văleanu really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great flick by Dimitri Ronsin after a corner. The crowd chanted their encouragement as B.I.R.'s Nucu Căpriţă came in from the right after 39 minutes and put the ball in the net to even the score at 2 - 2. Grilled took the lead 41 minutes into the game, making the score 2 - 3 after some elegant movement down the middle. Chan Ze Han was the scorer. Halftime score was 2 - 3. Grilled did a good job holding on to the ball, with 66 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

During the break, B.I.R.'s coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid (7) organization. With the clock showing 46 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Teo Chuan Yong looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud, though he would have liked to continue. The game had been going for 56 minutes when Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud broke through on the right, upping the score to 2 - 4 for Grilled, much to the home crowd's dismay. 63 minutes into the game, B.I.R. had difficulty finding their positions and their organization dropped to passable (6). 70 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Douglas Carapaica gave Gilbert Webb a quick hug as he left the field. After 70 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Salah Kamel off. Heng Dong Chu took his place. After 70 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for Shekar Kannan who increased Grilled's lead to 2 - 5. At that, Shekar Kannan was noted down for a hattrick! The Grilled free kick 76 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But it was no mistake - Heng Dong Chu seemingly came out of nowhere and had miles of space to control the ball and pick his spot. That's 2 - 6! The referee showed Grilled's Shekar Kannan the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home fans looked somber as they watched their team give up another goal, this one coming from their right as Bhavya Panigrahi put one through the keeper's legs. 2 - 7 after 83 minutes. Big paper red cards were being held up by the opposing supporters with 84 minutes on the clock after János Károlyi's mistimed tackle from behind. The referee only showed the B.I.R. player a yellow card though. Grilled came close to extending their lead as Chan Ze Han delivered a low effort on goal from the right but the angle was too sharp, and the shot was destined for the side netting. It was announced by the fourth official that he estimated stoppage time to be around 4 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! The match ends 2 - 7. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 68 percent possession in this half was spot on!

The most outstanding B.I.R. player was without a doubt Adrian Văleanu. Good thing Tiago Jorge Alves Silva isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. Grilled's top performer was clearly Chan Ze Han. I can't remember Bhavya Panigrahi ever having a worse night than he just had.