August Eight
Peter's Day
The Birds dismissed German contestants Augustiner comfortably enough at Iraq's centerpiece Akre United Arena, which had already seen two other friendlies earlier in the day and would see Northern Ireland's Under 20 side visit over the weekend. But for the moment it was all Grilled green against Augustiner orange, for a quarter-final berth in the FdgfD Cup.
Four-time participants Augustiner reached the knockout phase for the first time, and were intent on forcing their way further with a concerted offensive down the middle led by the impetuous Maximillian Endys. Grilled got their noses in front in the uncharacteristic Arabian rain, though, as a slip by Spanish central defender Oliverio Marcó in clearing a routine punt let Rotteveel steal by him and drive a shot past David Eule.
The muddy pitch gave neither side any favours, with Sid and Filipe Barros especially prone to getting their feet mixed up on defence. Augustiner's American-born Chinese midfielder Tan Po ta once gave Sid the slip to enjoy a one-on-one with Beckman, but his 37 year-old countryman got down low nimbly to smother his strike.
Second striker
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob scrapped a second with thirty-three minutes gone, and
Quah Han Kok put the tie to bed five minutes later when he outflanked a backpedalling backline to reach a high ball by Jie Siong. Rotteveel was close to a fourth as he pumped a snapshot towards goal with Eule out of position, only for Marcó to bail his goalie out by sliding in to hack it clear.
Sid then won the limelight in the second half when he somehow floated a free-kick through the swirling wind and rain into Eule's unguarded far post, and then picked out
Peter Fjällbratt from a corner-kick for the Swede beanpole to tuck gleefully home with his head. Rotteveel attempted a similar cross soon after, but Augustiner's otherwise unimpressive Manuel Biepiewski was first to the effort this time.
Even as the result drifted further beyond doubt, Augustiner defended grimly, and were able to keep Grilled from extending their lead until the 78th minute when
Lee Jie Siong used their lack of defensive width to nip through at the back.
The overzealous Fjällbratt then injected a bit of drama when he went heads up after a light tap from Bekishev, which deservedly got him a booking, though Spirig made the loss of a goal-scoring opportunity moot when he became the seventh Grilled player to get on the scoresheet, from a flying header, after Augustiner's free-kick was intercepted.
There would be more talking points in the dying moments as Sid got carded for a bad tackle on Rücker and van Liere had to go off after coming the worse off a collision with his own teammate, before Fjällbratt rounded a convincing win off with a steady finish after some interesting dribbling from substitute
Lorenz Paullin.
