Emerging Heng
Grilled's Supporter Week Trophy run closed with seven wins and three defeats, with a 2-1 record in their final three matches. This included a laudable 4-1 rout of Latvian Division Two side Zivju Fileja, who placed perhaps too much emphasis on originality, only to be foiled by
Massoud Dob's goaltending. Not only that, they had Kazakh striker Zhasulan Kazbekov sent off in injury time, for dragging out a dispute with the linesman.
Finnish III.16 club 777 then managed a 3-2 victory with their incessant shooting, which the Birds' defence couldn't do much more to stem. This did at least set up a clash with the legendary Craii de la rasarit, who have won essentially every national trophy of note in Armenia. Of course, Grilled weren't doing too badly by that count either, and they won a rain-drenched contest 5-3, with Craii's player-coach Adi Camilar pushing back with a brace.
To
Hovaness Noubaryan, the biggest pick-up from this series of games was
Heng Dong Chu emerging as a legitimate goal threat, after he managed two good ones from midfield. "That had been the most obvious part missing from his game." the head coach revealed. "We've been working on it, and from what you can see, he has got the attributes to contribute."
Farmer Bunnies were clearly tailing off from a historic campaign, and were ripped 4-2 by former Taça de Portugal holders Viatodos Tur, whose Mexican bon vivant Bruno Cosío was unplayable in getting his treble.
Nurlan Ablaev wasn't too shabby either, and his 63rd minute lightning counter versus Viatodos Tur would lead into another excellent scoring performance against two-time Estonian Challenger Cup winners Jõgeva Kollased.
Morgan Hu and
Wong Ting Yew were in on the goals too, in a fine 3-0 win.
Another proud former Challenger Cup team was up next in The HomeGrown Forest of Denmark's III.6, and they gave the Bunnies one of their closest matches of the tournament. The Buns were constantly on the ropes for the first twenty-odd minutes, until
Lau Chang Wan broke out entirely against the run of play.
Sofian Azfar added a second in the 57th minute as his strange delivery surprised Vagner Plauborg, and Forest could gain but a consolation from Danni Pedersen Møller.
While the Birds had finished 1383rd to again top the country, and the Buns 4185th of 21408 participants, Grilled International wound up 6817th after a poor third day, with a 5-1-4 record. Their ranking tanked after painful defeats against Sc Orsmaal and SV Ostfriesensturm; it began with a 1-3 to the Belgian fourth divisioners, whose perceptive defending was punctuated only by a
Didi Reidenbach free-kick marvel. The Germans didn't even allow a goal, and came out 3-0 winners with a mastery that belied their Division Six status.
International were eager not to end on a losing note, and they were well on the way to that against Honduran Division Two closers MC ENROE Y BORG.
Fausto Perono did what he does best in the 26th minute, outfighting Tanzanian defender David Mahenge on the left, and
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh made it 2-0 by the 49th with an opportunistic nod. They would then fade badly, and MC BORG nearly turned it all around, before settling for the 2-2 draw.