Chan Maintains Balance
The Birds would finish their latest Supporter Week Trophy tournament all square, thanks to a mammoth last-gasp effort from
Chan Ze Han to secure 13829th place of 26002 teams, with a 4-2-4 record. It had been a right downer before that, with Brazilian V.79 champions JUVENTUDE FC first giving them the run-around backed up by a tight 4-5-1, with Spanish striker Luis Escamilla eventually overturning
Moey Xin Seng's fourth minute header.
Chia Kwang Tse answered from another corner with
Paulino Trindade making a vital touch, but Belisário Francischini then turned on the afterburners for 3-2, and Chinese expat Zhu Enhao then put it beyond doubt.
Chia would be booked late on for trying to force the issue, and Scottish Division Four side Heart of Midlothian declined to allow Grilled even the comfort of a goal, as they embarassed the Birds with a simple but effective counterattacking strategy. First-half strikes by Sol Bowden and Michael Caldwell were more than sufficient to claim the points, and they were perhaps unlucky not to have extended their lead further.
That left Porto H.A.L fifth divisioners ZDMS as the Birds' last hope to not end on a losing note, and they blitzed the MFJ FC spin-offs with all the urgency they could muster. Corner kick prowess is something that the club can be proud of, with
Lim An Keng opening from one in the eighth minute, and
Gandhik Chitre following up a couple of minutes later.
Chan Ze Han then took over with a hat-trick, with Camilo Machado bagging a consolation and Panigrahi a closing penalty conversion.
Farmer Bunnies ended with a neutral 3-4-3 on 13 points in 14706th place, quite incredibly playing out three goalless draws on this final day. None of Puerto Vallmoll (Puerto Rico Division Three), Rápido Bahía (Spanish Division Six) or FC Helm's Deep (Czech Division Six) had what it took to break the Buns' defence, though the same went for Farmer. The had the best looks against Bahía, at least before
Vitaliy Efendiev got sent off for a second yellow card in just the 36th minute.
Dalibor Kostadinović acknowledged that the team's offence had been deteriorating for years, Efendiev's arrival aside, and warned fans not to expect much improvement in the short term. "We won't be competitive for the major trophies when raising our new batch of youngsters, so it really doesn't make sense to invest where it probably won't matter yet."
Grilled International fared the best of all the Grilled clubs, as they claimed 5461th place, on five wins and three draws. There would be a humbling by German V.147 side FC Tool Time Reloaded to start the day, however, as International's focus completely fell apart after
Li Xin Chi's individual brilliance gave them the lead in the fourth minute. Guam winger Grant Tacuyan equalized with a long-range rocket past
Querubim Santos Couto, and led his side to a deserved 4-1 comeback.
It got better against Swiss Division Five contestants Ursa Aventicum next, with
Tibor Atzenhain finding what might be his farewell hat-trick for the club, which included a 40th minute penalty. Thomas Flemisch had Ursa back within a single goal as he finished what Thomas Flemisch couldn't, seven minutes from time, but
Hardi bin Besar made sure off the confused fallout from an indirect free-kick, in time added on.
A 2-2 draw against Nigerian II.2 team Ultras vargar would close International's participation, with
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh saving a point with his last-minute breakthrough, after Hardi had fed on a loose pass by Francisco Aneiros early on. Karl-Erik Isaksson and Uzundu Obaro replied for the Ultras in between, though not without frequent scares from Hardi and fellows.
