Unbeaten Road
Grilled Birds emerged from the first day of the Trophy of Legends in good standing, as they squeezed in at 808th position of 6142 teams, with two wins and a draw. Dutch VI.159 runners-up FC VV Real Bal-op-dak-7 United were the first to get a taste of the Birds as they fell 2-4, as
Joe Reece and
Orest Tokarz scored along with
Lim An Keng and
Paulino Trindade.
Brian Reddy's two yellows would see him sit out the next game against Swedish IV.105 champions Wettershaga International, which had
Tian Yonghang forced to play narrow with
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan standing in.
Lim An Keng captained the side to a 3-1 lead as he and
Chad Thach stunned Whaga in the first four minutes, only for the Swedes to claw it back to 4-3.
Paulino Trindade and Lim equalized in turn for 5-5 in the 84th minute, before
Damian Hutter appeared to have won it... only for Bakytzhan Babazhanov to force a share of the points for Whaga.
Grilled could hardly feel shortchanged, and another Swedish league winner in FC Hong Kong were up next, if a division lower in V.30. This time, it would be Mauricio Hernández and Július Dedina to fire them to a two-goal lead, but a penalty saw
Aw Keng Chuan get one back, before the returning Reddy crossed for
Joe Reece's arcing header. Arnis Lukstiņš' own spot kick cancelled
Chad Thach's 30th minute strike - with Thach himself sent off later - but Aw got a second go in the 79th minute to secure victory.
The Buns were not as invincible, as they lost their Heroes of 2014 Trophy opener to Argentine V.70 side Independiente de Chacalermo, through a Ross McHaffie free-kick in the 68th minute. This was especially bitter for
Gilberto Sorondo given that he had kept McHaffie's seventh minute penalty out, though in fairness the Scotsman had tried to be cute by dinking it down the middle.
Farmer Bunnies doled out their own closed shops thereafter, with Rome VI.944 club S.S. 26 Maggio on the receiving end of their own 1-0, with
Ho Ah Kian getting the barest of touches from
Ong Li Jing's dipping cross early on - even as
Vitaliy Efendiev's missed penalty made their day harder than it might have been. Polish VI.80 challengers Onomatopeja F.C. were then put down 2-0, as
Lau Keng Kwang and
Lim Guang Qiang celebrated rare goals from quick breaks.
The club would also receive a small but useful add-on fee from the latest transfer of former academy winger Kang How Loong, who at 24 years is already on his fifth club since leaving Singapore. Close to five seasons at Germany's the gLoBaLdOmInAnCeR's later, he would move on to Hungarian V.197 outfit FC Bravo, for close to S$4.5 million.
Grilled International had their two wins and a defeat too, beginning by thrashing Italian VII.288 club River Karma 3-0.
Chua Jun Long,
Mohsen Zeynali and
Redhuan bin Mohd Aleshahfezan had completed the rout by the 21st minute, as River Karma pressed to no avail. Division Five's Grottaferrata HGT avenged their countrymen, however, as they then crushed International by the same scoreline, after awkward early misses from Redhuan and
Phua Li Kong.
It was tighter for International against Dutch V.46 side Fc Twente (Enschede), and they had
Egidius van der Duin to thank for his brace amidst only too many chances that went begging. Symon Stauthamer had levelled up in between, after a tremendous dribble that even won grudging approval from the International fans.
Elsewhere, International were finally eliminated from the City Glory tournament in the third round, as they were edged 4-3 by Swiss VI.603 team Sportfreunde Niedereimer. Truth be told, it was something of an achievement to manage that after getting run over 3-0 before the first half an hour was done, but
Leri Bezhanishvili and
Umut Koza allowed them to dream for a bit.
