It was a sunny day at the stadium today. For some players the sunny weather was bad news. It made Powerful and Quick players a bit sluggish. For Technical players, it was instead an advantage, allowing them to shine on the pitch. The following players took the field: Germanakos - Panigrahi, Webb - Baena, Mohammad Harun, Keng Chuan, Parvathaneni, Trindade - Ze Han, Velho, Xin Seng.

Starters: Allen - Kojadinović, Lore, Vega Rivero - Garis, García Huidobro, Kashkin, Ličina, Vázquez - Stern, Wiesensteig.

Grilled Birds started the game in a 2-5-3 formation, whereas Barbas F.C. lined up in a 3-5-2. Grilled mostly ignored the flanks in favor of their utopian (19) ability to attack in the middle. It was an obvious ambition of Barbas to play a wide game with their extra-terrestrial (16) ability to attack down the wings. Down the middle came Anselmo Vega Rivero, making a fantastic play that nearly saw Barbas take the lead after 14 minutes, but Dimitris Germanakos preserved the tie. An accurate cross from Barbas's Pedro Garis was met with a wonderful off-balance header from Steffen Stern, hitting the inside base of the post before curling up into the back of the net like a dog in front of a fire for 0 - 1. Maybe José Luiz Velho should join the aquatics team instead. He went down dramatically after 25 minutes, crying out with agony as he fell. The referee was not impressed, though, and showed him a yellow for diving. Barbas were determined to attack down the sideline and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favor of the wings. With 28 minutes played, Barbas put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was Steffen Stern. Attacking on the wings was the theme of the day for Barbas, and they were successfully passing the ball outside from the middle. The away team's José Vázquez took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 31 minutes increasing Barbas's lead to 0 - 3. After 38 minutes, the excellent pass from the wing by Barbas's Pedro Garis reached José Vázquez's head, and he is not one to miss such an opportunity - 0 - 4. The home fans looked somber as they watched their team give up another goal, this one coming from their right as Detmar Wiesensteig put one through the keeper's legs. 0 - 5 after 40 minutes. Halftime score was 0 - 5. Well, look at this! Cardi B is on the Enormotron in naught but giant sunglasses, red tassles, and a Millinocket Moose tank top. I've not seen anything like it before. With the clock showing 46 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Kalki Parvathaneni looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Lim An Keng, though he would have liked to continue. As the 46 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. José Luiz Velho reluctantly made way for Prokop Mottl. By working their way through the middle, Grilled refused to be intimidated – their efforts finally led to Paulino Trindade managing to slip the ball past the keeper to make the score 1 - 5. Barbas's Detmar Wiesensteig received a ball slotted perfectly through the home side's central defense after 53 minutes, and chipped it past the helpless keeper to increase the lead to 1 - 6. The away fans won't regret traveling for this one! The ball was in the back of the home team's net yet again after 57 minutes, but this time the referee called the goal back because Steffen Stern had knocked a member of the opposing team to the ground while the play occurred down the middle of the field. After 60 minutes, Barbas's Pedro Garis burst through the central defense and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 1 - 7. Grilled's Bhavya Panigrahi had a nice free kick routine after 63 minutes that was very close to paying off, had it not been for a dramatic save by the visitors' keeper. 80 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Chia Kwang Tse came on for Bilal Mohammad Harun. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 3 beyond the regular 90 minutes. The match ends 1 - 7. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Barbas would have 55 percent possession in this half was spot on!

The most outstanding Grilled player was without a doubt Chan Ze Han. Good thing Paulino Trindade isn't a horse, because he'd surely be sent to the glue factory after that performance. Most important Barbas player was Detmar Wiesensteig. I can't remember Eusebi Lore ever having a worse night than he just had.