Clouds darkened the skies at the stadium today. The following players took the field: Groenemeyer - Juárez, Delcroix, Milikić - Ambrose, Ben Miriam, Pieraccini, Echeverría, Minh Anh - Zeeuws, Dempsey.

Starters: Germanakos - Panigrahi, Webb - Baena, Mohammad Harun, Keng Chuan, Parvathaneni, Trindade - Ze Han, Velho, Xin Seng.

The teams had chosen different formations for the match. The home team, beerschot !!!, went for a 3-5-2, while Grilled Birds has decided to play a 2-5-3 lineup. Using their mythical (17) skill, beerschot pushed their attacks towards the wings. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their utopian (19) ability to attack in the middle. 15 minutes into the match, Grilled nearly took the lead, as Aw Keng Chuan broke through on the right. However, Dustin Groenemeyer made the save. beerschot's Hoàng Minh Anh set up a perfect opportunity for Amatzia Ben Miriam, but the latter failed to score. beerschot broke through on the left after 27 minutes, with Amatzia Ben Miriam firing at an impossible angle to give the home side a 1 - 0 lead. A cross coming in on the right hand side left Moey Xin Seng alone in front of the goal after 28 minutes but his shot wasn't taken well. Grilled got a chance to level the scores in minute 29 as Moey Xin Seng suddenly found himself free with only the keeper to beat, but the finish hit the bar. Always quick and a menace to his opponents, Kalki Parvathaneni got through after 34 minutes, but the keeper deflected his shot and a defender took care of the rebound. Grilled mounted an inspired counter-attack down the right wing after 36 minutes, but Enrique Baena was unable to convert from short range. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 56 percent of possession.

As the 46 minute mark approached, the beerschot manager decided it was time for a substitution. Stefano Pieraccini reluctantly made way for Liam Epiha. Dustin Groenemeyer was handed the beerschot captain's armband. After 46 minutes, the Grilled coach wanted to see a new face on the field, waving Kalki Parvathaneni off. Lim An Keng took his place. 46 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Prokop Mottl came on for José Luiz Velho. The visitors almost came back with an equalizer 48 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but Prokop Mottl didn't get enough power behind the attempted finish to seriously challenge the keeper. Coming through the middle Paulino Trindade almost scored the equalizer for Grilled after 57 minutes, but Dustin Groenemeyer made an excellent save, tipping the awkward swerving shot past the post. With the clock showing 65 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Hoàng Minh Anh looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Lamberto Panduri, though he would have liked to continue. Grilled were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up coming through the center. 67 minutes into the game Grilled's Chan Ze Han found a gap in the home side's central defense and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 1 - 1. 76 minutes into the game, beerschot wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Darío Echeverría gave Tjano Muylle a quick hug as he left the field. Big paper red cards were being held up by the opposing supporters with 76 minutes on the clock after Enrique Baena's mistimed tackle from behind. The referee only showed the Grilled player a yellow card though. 80 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Bilal Mohammad Harun gave Chia Kwang Tse a quick hug as he left the field. Lim An Keng came close to putting the visiting team one up 82 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but Dustin Groenemeyer managed to tip the ball over. After 85 minutes, beerschot's lack of experience resulted in the team's loss of their edge at the end of the game. The game had been going for 86 minutes when Leon Zeeuws came in on the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to put away the 2 - 1 goal, giving beerschot the lead. A beautiful, arcing corner kick from Bhavya Panigrahi found Chia Kwang Tse at the far post, soaring to meet the ball. The keeper is late and he's headed it in for 2 - 2! beerschot's Filip Milikić tried to break through the middle repeatedly, but the visitors' defenders were just too alert. With 88 minutes played, beerschot's Steve Dempsey received a yellow card for challenging a play with his cleats first. It was announced by the fourth official that he estimated stoppage time to be around 2 minutes. This meant there could still be an extra attack or two left in the match! The match ends 2 - 2. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 53 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Dustin Groenemeyer performed admirably for beerschot. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because Leon Zeeuws seemed to stumble all over the pitch. Most important Grilled player was Chan Ze Han. Even six year old fans were wincing at the poor play by Enrique Baena today.