Seeing Stars
Grilled Birds would have in hard in the second day of the Trophy of Legends competition, as they suffered two losses, before squeaking out a nil-all draw. Austrian Division Five long-timers Allstar-Team SAALFELDEN started off with a steamrolling, after a relatively-even first-half that saw
Moey Xin Seng polish off an
Enrique Baena assist, in the eighth minute. It only got steadily worse after that, as Norwegian forward Kristian Truelsen flirted with a hat-trick, as it ended 4-1.
Finnish V.127 side Fc Huippu then came up with a 3-2 win despite the Birds again taking the lead, through
Bhavya Panigrahi's 12th minute penalty this time. Panigrahi would further drop a corner on
Bilal Mohammad Harun's head for the second, but Jarno Vesalainen edged it from Tiitus Pörhölä's breaking the lines afterwards. Spanish sixth divisioners os pelexos were then there for the taking, but they survived a number of excellent first-half chances, while giving up two yellow cards.
This would have the Birds fall to 4324th of 6342 participants with a 2-2-3 record thus far, with twenty goals scored both for and against.
Chan Ze Han, who rued not doing it against os pelexos, thought it a fair enough reflection of their current standards. "There's a hill to climb." he remarked evenly. "But we have time."
Farmer Bunnies would share the same fate, as they were first defeated 1-2 by Slovakian V.245 champions xaxapax. Sixten Josefsson scored first from the penalty spot in the 27th after an unfortunate handball, and although
Richard Agyei could equalize three minutes later, Jonas Sværke notched a second soon after the restart, with
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany and
Nguyễn Văn Chương then wasting promising counters.
A 2-2 draw against Florida fourth divisioners SPD was next, as the Buns played the second half with ten men, after
Mushtag Al-Nameeri had been sent off due to a second yellow for protesting what he thought was a clear foul.
Billy Camperio somehow gave them the lead in the 61st minute despite that, but Bahrain midfielder Hassan Rostami Amani saved it for the Americans, in the very last minute.
Danish V.229 representatives Sænke Slagskibe FK, also league winners, would then repeat xaxapax's 2-1, with
Vitaliy Efendiev finally breaking his duck from a magnificent 71st minute free-kick curler. This has them a poor 1736th of 1846 contestants in the Heroes of 2014 Trophy on a 1-1-5, their worst interim showing certainly in the tournament at this stage.
Grilled International outperformed with two victories, then, while running Dutch VI.192 side Mattiedoren very close, in their initial 4-5 defeat.
Hardi bin Besar seemed to have drawn it late with a cultured right foot, but Nassim Sub Laban spoilt the part on a counter after
Tibor Atzenhain's free-kick went into the defensive wall.
Another Dutch Division Six team in The Butcher 180 were then put away 4-2 as
Wang Hanxuan completed a turnaround in style, with Polish VI.275 runners-up ChmielsonyKPSu then flattened in a very productive second half for International.
Collin Kleden, Hardi again and then Atzenhain scored, and it could well have been a few more.
This leaves International 2026th of 4192 clubs with a balanced 3-1-3, as their players enter the third day eager to make an impression on
Didi Reidenbach; it's little secret that the management are looking to trim the fat after another league campaign downer, and the axe must be hovering very close to a number of necks by now.
There would be windfalls for the Birds and Buns after International's haul from Ragib Banović, with the Birds' Leong Heng Choon turning out to be a real money-spinner, after early stints with Tampines Phoenix F.C. and St. Xavier's FC. The journeyman fullback has racked up five big transfers after that, including a S$10.9 million move to Belgium's Oompa_loompa's seven seasons ago. While Spanish Division Three club FC Olmedo 2014 are forking out but four million this time for the 30 year-old, the transfer should give Leong a good opportunity to add to his collection of five leaguewinner's medals.
Former Buns trainee Kameron Huang would go for just over S$9.6 million from Argentine fifth division club Velezsarsfield to Romanian VI.883 champions F.C. Homalaii_Braila, as the 24 year-old continues seeking adventure abroad. This raked in close to two hundred thousand for the Buns, who will appreciate the contribution to their coffers.
