It was a sunny day at the stadium today. It was a sunny day and the technical players could roll the ball around with ease. Those that had to chase after the ball found the weather less appealing, it especially stymied the game of Powerful and Quick players. Starters: Salmiņš - Panigrahi, Carapaica - Kannan, Parvathaneni, Xin Seng, Xin Lee, Kamel - Ze Han, Mudaliar, Mazhud.

They fielded: Steinheimer - Spaur, Sohn - Nenadović, Hinnemann, Weitzmann, von Kotze, Cogliati - Zimmern, Pitta, Gröpels.

As the teams spread out over the pitch, it became clear that they would both be using a 2-5-3 formation today. Grilled clearly preferred using their divine (+6) (26) ability to attack in the middle today. A corner kick created massive confusion in the penalty area, with a near-goal by Salah Kamel. At last, Grilled's Douglas Carapaica was able to will the ball into the net. 1 - 0. Kalki Parvathaneni could have put Grilled up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 25 minutes. Grüne made a good counter-attacking move down the left 26 minutes into the game, and Harald Georg Pitta finished well for 1 - 1. A mistake by the home side's central defense after 30 minutes allowed Harald Georg Pitta to score for Grüne. The visitors have the lead, 1 - 2. Kalki Parvathaneni pulled a rabbit out of his hat as he wove through the guest's entire central defense and put the 2 - 2 equalizer away after 35 minutes. Grilled created a good opportunity to score 42 minutes into the game when Bhavya Panigrahi's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, but the visitors' defenders eventually won out. After 43 minutes of play, Moey Xin Seng gave the home team a 3 - 2 lead after an attack coming in from the right. Halftime score was 3 - 2. Grilled had the upper hand in possession, maintaining an impressive 58 percent possession of the ball.

Grilled solidified their lead at the 63 minute mark, as Vikram Mudaliar snaked the ball through the central line of defense and finished for 4 - 2. 73 minutes into the game, technical Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud of Grilled scored to make it 5 - 2, having made Arno von Kotze look like a complete fool. Chan Ze Han's long shot really ought to have found the net for Grilled after 74 minutes, but it fell just wide of the target. With the clock showing 75 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 Heng Dong Chu, though he would have liked to continue. 80 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Teo Chuan Yong came on for Chu Xin Lee. After 80 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Douglas Carapaica off. Gilbert Webb took his place. Grilled's Bhavya Panigrahi struck his penalty well enough to beat the goalkeeper and extend the home team's lead to 6 - 2 after 80 minutes. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased Grilled's lead to 7 - 2 as Teo Chuan Yong finished it off clinically, firing the shot from a terrible angle. Teo Chuan Yong was not content with his team's lead, and tried to extend it 85 minutes into the game after a nice run through the middle, but his shot went wide. The players were tired, but when the referee announced that there would be 2 minutes of added time, they welcomed the extra opportunity to make an impact. The match ends 7 - 2. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 58 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Most important Grilled player was Chan Ze Han. I can't remember Shekar Kannan ever having a worse night than he just had. Grüne's top performer was clearly Harald Georg Pitta. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because Wilfried Gröpels seemed to stumble all over the pitch.