Dhabi Downer
As with the Trophy of Legends, the first day of the Supporter Week Trophy saw three Grilled wins followed by a loss - and a rather comprehensive one at that. Poland's Olimpia Mamry first took the brunt of a buzzed Birds team before that, as wingers
Cyril Künzler and
Florus Romijn struck twice each in a 7-0 victory.
Gilbert Webb would make it two goals in two games in the 2-0 over German seventh divisioners Club Calcio Catania Ispica next, after
Moey Xin Seng had gotten a 58th minute opener after much wastefulness on the Birds' part. Fourteen goals without reply would then be achieved against the black shirts of Dutch Division Six team FC GAULI, with
Neeraj Muthyala getting his brace by the eleventh minute.
Grilled would crash back down to earth against UAE Al Amiri League club Abu Dhabi SC, whose American veteran striker Samuel Cheeves scored at the beginning, middle and end, for a magnificent hat-trick. That last completely deflated the Birds, who would let in two more, to former Andorran international Àlex Vilargunté, and then Maximilian Goroncy in time added on.
Team captain Moey offered no excuses for that last collapse. "Siinto Vehviläinen was a beast in central defence, but we had enough to make a contest of it."
The Bunnies began with a 3-1 win over English Division Four side Etheric City, who led off through an early Lucas Castro Pena penalty.
Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany would then have to find the net from a counterattack three minutes from time, for the Buns to steal a draw against Croatian Division Three representatives NK Vedranovi lavovi.
Ten-man Hungarian side Gazdagrét SC B would then get the better of the Buns despite having forward Kim Fransson dismissed very early for violent conduct, as they leveraged their distance shooting ability against a strangely-unreliable
Vivian Grubenmann. Farmer Bunnies would finally sign off with another win, with
Sim Leng Cheng doing it all against Brazilian Division Five team OsCraudio® Futebol Clube Brazil - including grabbing the only goal.
Grilled International lost their first two matches, though they reportedly learnt much from Bahrain Division Two club Al-Cagliahrain FC in a 0-4 wipeout. While Swiss fifth divisioners Greppi Boys were not nearly as overwhelming, they nevertheless carved out a 3-0 win, with Wisi Schaffner saving well from
Fausto Perono, which was G.I.'s only clear opportunity.
A see-sawing four-all draw at Chilean Division Six club TRUS BESIKTAS PLATI followed, with
Micky bin Kadir's shove-and-shoot apparently having won it for International, after Isaac Paternost had done well to tie it back at 3-3.
Querubim Santos Couto fumbled from PLATI's next corner, however, leaving Edgar Riquelme with an automatic tap-in.
International's final game also ended all square, but not for want of effort from
Wang Hanxuan, who got two from midfield. Polish Division Seven opponents Rzeźnik Złe Mięso were ever a threat on the break, and their compact three-man attack would find a way through in the 80th minute.