Clear skies welcomed the spectators who had made their way to the stadium today. The following players took the field: Kutálek - dos Reis, 仁康 (Renkang), Vīģelis, Nică - Parreira Silva, Detmer, Bēvalds, Egerts, Nienałtowski - Gatti.

Starters: Germanakos - Keng Chuan, Hutter - Reddy, Teck Fu, An Keng, Khairul, Parada - Reece, Ming Xin, Tokarz.

FC Pansionats fielded a 4-5-1 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was a 2-5-3. Grilled seemed to prefer attacking in the middle, using their divine (+1) (21) ability to great effect. Always quick and a menace to his opponents, Joachim Nienałtowski got through after 3 minutes, but the keeper deflected his shot and a defender took care of the rebound. With 4 minutes gone, the home side took a 1 - 0 lead as Ionuţ Nică raced down the right flank and casually flipped the ball into the net after a searing cross from the far side of the pitch. 11 minutes into the game Grilled's Lim An Keng found a gap in the home side's central defense and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 1 - 1. The referee showed Grilled's Phua Ming Xin the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. With clinical precision, the cross from winger Brian 'Was Born' Reddy found its way to Joe Reece's head, and a screaming header gave Grilled a goal after 28 minutes played. The scoreboard read 1 - 2. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Pansionats's Aurelio Gatti came in from the right after 30 minutes and put the ball in the net to even the score at 2 - 2. After more pushing and shoving than a pack of helicopter moms trying to get the last appointment for their snowflakes to see the Easter Bunny, Pansionats's Teófilo Parreira Silva finally got himself booked for a foul. After 39 minutes, Grilled's Joe Reece made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the halftime score. Looks like Nate Silver was right again - his prediction that Grilled would have 55 percent possession in this half was spot on!

Grilled players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. A thrilling play through the middle after 57 minutes gave Grilled's Lim An Keng a chance to increase the lead, and he happily obliged. The score was then 2 - 4. It was obvious that Grilled had instructions to attack in the middle when they directed a break on the wing into the center of the park. The ball was in the back of the home team's net yet again after 60 minutes, but this time the referee called the goal back because Damian Hutter had knocked a member of the opposing team to the ground while the play occurred down the middle of the field. Phua Ming Xin was, after 68 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the center, but the home side's keeper Jaroslav Kutálek made the save. 69 minutes into the match, Pansionats's Ionuţ Nică chased down a ball sent down the right and put it into the back of the net, narrowing the score to 3 - 4. With the match clock reading 74 minutes, the inexperienced Grilled team fell into disarray. 80 minutes into the match, the referee signaled for a Grilled substitution. Chia Kwang Tse came on for Hwang Teck Fu. A series of fine plays up the middle should have led to a goal for Pansionats, but 欧阳 (Ouyang) 仁康 (Renkang)'s shot went over the bar. It was almost a goal for Grilled following Chia Kwang Tse's good header from a corner kick, but the fans will have to wait a little longer as the ball went wide. Chia Kwang Tse came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle, but his attempted chip over Jaroslav Kutálek just kept rising and landed in the relieved crowd. With the clock showing 88 minutes, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Brian 'Was Born' Reddy looked to see that it was his number in red, so he made his way over to the sideline and swapped out for Enrique Baena, though he would have liked to continue. 88 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game. Joe Reece gave Gandhik Chitre a quick hug as he left the field. The referee decided to let play continue for an additional 3 beyond the regular 90 minutes. The match ends 3 - 4. Grilled did a good job holding on to the ball, with 56 percent of possession. We'll be back after these interminable commercial messages.

The most outstanding Pansionats player was without a doubt Joachim Nienałtowski. I can't remember Nikolajs Bēvalds ever having a worse night than he just had. Most important Grilled player was Mohd Marzuki Khairul. You can tell it was nickel beer night yesterday at the local bar because Damian Hutter seemed to stumble all over the pitch.