It was a sunny day at the stadium today. It was a very hot day and some players suffered from this, especially those relying on tough physical play or a lot of fast runs. For the technical ones, on the other hand, this was ideal conditions. Starters: Gyüre - Lutz, Laranjeira, Tułacz - Lucas Ferreira, Päiväniemi, Akanaev, Radev, Carvalho Tavares - Lopes, Torralva.

They fielded: Germanakos - Panigrahi, Hutter - An Keng, Mohammad Harun, Keng Chuan, Parvathaneni, Trindade - Ze Han, Xin Seng, Chitre.

São Messi Imperial FC fielded a 3-5-2 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was a 2-5-3. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, using their mythical (17) ability to great effect. Despite the fact that he was falling backwards, Samat 'Coach Papy' Akanaev still managed to send an excellent header goalwards. The crossbar is the keeper's best friend though, and the ball bounced harmlessly out of play. Down the middle came Chan Ze Han, making a fantastic play that nearly saw Grilled take the lead after 15 minutes, but Kende 'Kiko' Gyüre preserved the tie. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 18 minutes of hard work with a breakthrough from Vando 'Vandalo' Lopes, who, all by his lonesome, came out of the right wing and hooked the ball over the visitors' keeper. The Grilled free kick 23 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But it was no mistake - Lim An Keng seemingly came out of nowhere and had miles of space to control the ball and pick his spot. That's 1 - 1! Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. A mistake by the home side's central defense after 29 minutes allowed Moey Xin Seng to score for Grilled. The visitors have the lead, 1 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Grilled set the tempo, maintaining 52 percent of possession.

46 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Chia Kwang Tse came on for Kalki Parvathaneni. The home keeper was stunned 61 minutes into the match when he misjudged the free kick by Bhavya Panigrahi and dove in the wrong direction. The visitors increased the lead to 1 - 3. Imperial supporters found their voice 65 minutes in as good work down the right got the ball to Sebastião 'Carvalhito' Carvalho Tavares who reduced the visitors' lead to 2 - 3. Imperial's Bogusław 'Czekan' Tułacz had a hard, curved free kick 67 minutes in that would have paid off, had it gone just a little lower. As the 80 minute mark approached, the Grilled manager decided it was time for a substitution. Moey Xin Seng reluctantly made way for Teo Chuan Yong. Ernesto 'Torreón' Torralva pulled a rabbit out of his hat as he wove through the guest's entire central defense and put the 3 - 3 equalizer away after 80 minutes. With the match clock reading 81 minutes, the inexperienced Grilled team fell into disarray. 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. With no winner at the end of regulation, the match went into extra time. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 51 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Grilled's coach had to raise his voice a little, but he also managed to raise his players' organization to solid (7) after reviewing his strategy. Oh, it's a stupendous shot on goal! A Caravaggio! A Michelangelo! A Venus on the Half Shell! 105 minutes into the match and Moisés Laranjeira has created art for the ages for Imperial, putting them ahead 4 - 3. Oh, I'm weeping. I can't stop my eyes. The home team thought they were lucky after a brilliant strike from the right bounced off the crossbar 107 minutes in. Chan Ze Han was first to react though, and leveled the game at 4 - 4. The visiting Gandhik Chitre was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 108 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 4 - 5 was the score. The match ends 4 - 5. Imperial's top performer was clearly Vando 'Vandalo' Lopes. I can't remember Moisés Laranjeira ever having a worse night than he just had. Grilled's best player was Chan Ze Han. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because Bhavya Panigrahi seemed to stumble all over the pitch.