Captain Closers
Grilled Birds finished their Trophy of Legends with two wins, as their 6-0-2 record would leave them in 343th place of 6858 teams, with a 7-0-1 required for a shot at the final sixty-four. Bulgarian II.3 runners-up FC Belashtica were first to test the Birds, only to find themselves down 0-3 at half-time;
Shekar Kannan sparked a goal run with his assist to
Vikram Mudaliar in the 29th minute, followed by a
Chan Ze Han brace within four minutes. Jabeur Jebali and Ronni Nousiainen made things interesting in the second half, but
Moey Xin Seng would put a halt to Ronni Nousiainen's rally, as he made it 4-2 in the wake of
Heng Dong Chu's arrival.
Polish fifth division side KronosFighters would be Grilled's final test, having probably outdone expectations in reaching this point, and it would be
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud to lead the team to a 5-0 whitewash, with Moey completing the scoring again. Portuguese custodian Moisés Torres Rodrigues would take slight comfort in frustrating
Bhavya Panigrahi from free-kicks, however, and it was no exaggeration to say that the Grilled set-piece specialist might well have had a hat-trick from them, against another goalie.
Hilal Bakhtiar would direct attention towards Sunday's qualifier, in an effort to redirect talk from the club's reaction to the season's disappointment, which has not been clear yet especially on the recruitment front. "That will come later but very soon."
Farmer Bunnies went 3-3-2 to finish 1014th of 2114 sides, first drawing Slovakian V.147 winners TJ 1993 Družstevník Vaniškovce one-all in a tight, technical game. Eftichios Anachronakis gave Vaniškovce the lead from a big header in the 35th minute, and
Vishnu Tallapaka bailed the Buns out with a free-kick stunner past Maroš Dubiňák from near twenty yards out, in the second half.
Tallapaka was at it again versus Polish sixth divisioners Baypass in their final game, though from open play thanks to a strong run by
Tham Leng Teck down the left. There would be a critical moment from
Gilberto Sorondo, as he parried a penalty take from Edmílson Leivinha with twenty minutes remaining, before
Xue Kangfang took advantage of the opponents' haste to find an equalizer, to have it 2-0 on an all-out counter coming up the right flank.
Aitykul Zaripbekov had to concede that the team would badly miss the 39 year-old Tallapaka, were he to retire. "Sad to say, we have been depending on Vishnu to save us only too often. We will have to stand on our own feet more, in the coming years."
Grilled International wound up 946th of 5002 clubs with five wins and three defeats, with them first adding to the positive column against Spanish VI.590 side JARRATHINAIKOS 2014. It was blow-for-blow through the first half and part of the second, until
Osertz Indurain's collected finish finally broke the balance definitively.
Tibor Atzenhain and
Zaini bin Hj Kaling then scored on the increasingly-disorganized opponents, with it ending 6-3.
It was all Józef Bajger as Polish Division Five outfit pks bydgoski crushed International 4-1, though, with Bajger having his hat-trick by the 65th minute, amply supported by Dutchman Thijn Haufe from the left. Atzenhain would at least claim a consolation as he risked a flashy cheap in the 73rd, that took Mircea Răbulea unawares.
Club captain
Safari bin Hj Jali mused that he wouldn't mind having Bajger on the squad, more than a possibility given that he is currently being offered to other clubs for around S$7 million. "Banović, Atzenhain, Hardi... they have all been great, but we can always do with more top strikers here."